PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF TROPICAL AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE

Water uptake by the plant is difficult in saline and water stress condition due to decreasing osmotic potential of soil. Soybean yield is highly affected by the soil water scarcity. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the growth and yield of three selected soybean genotypes in salt and water stress conditions at a vinyl house. Three soybean genotypes, namely, Galarsum, BD 2331 and BARI Soybean 6, were tested in six different treatments. The six different treatments were: T1 (Control, no salt or water stress), T2 (Water shortage, WS), T3 (50 mM NaCl), T4 (50 mM NaCl + WS), T5 (75 mM NaCl) and T6 (75 mM NaCl + WS). Plant height, shoot dry weight and dry matter distribution in different parts were sharply decreased when the plants were exposed to the combined salt and water stress conditions. The combined effect of salt and water stress was more severe in yield reduction than the single effect. The seed yield of soybean was decreased with increase in salinity. Among the genotypes, dry matter reduction was the lowest in Galarsum. In addition, Galarsum also showed the highest filled pods and 100 seed weight. The maximum seed yield was found in Galarsum. Galarsum was found to be suitable to grow in saline and water stress condition. Therefore, this genotype can be recommended for saline and water shortage zones.