Abstract

Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses in arid and semi-arid regions and it affects 7% of the world’s land area of about 930 million ha (Munns et al., 2006). Salinity reduces the ability of plants to take up water, leading to metabolic effect that reduces plant growth. It may reduce crop yield by upsetting water and nutritional balance of plant. The deleterious consequences of high salt concentrations in the external solution of plant cells are hyperosmotic shock and ionic imbalance. Although, salt stress affects all growth stages of a plant, seed germination and seedling growth stages are known to be more sensitive for most plant species. Germination failures on saline soils are often the results of high salt concentrations in the seed planting zone. Salinity causes not only differences between the mean yield and the potential yield, but also causes yield reduction from year to year. This review is expected to give valuable information about the effects of salinity on seed germination.

Key words: Salinity, stress, seed germination.