Response of eight Cucumis melo cultivars to salinity during germination and early vegetative growth

In order to determine salt tolerance in eight varieties of Cucumis melo, tw o controlled environment experiments were carried out with seeds and seedli ngs. The tolerance study was carried out using the Van Genuchten equation w hich was found to have a very high level of fitting for melon. During the g ermination process, the most tolerant varieties were 'amarello' and 'amaril lo oro' and during the early vegetative growth it was 'tendral terreno'. In general, there was no relationship between salt tolerance at the two stage s of development. Salinity induced a decrease in the concentrations of Ca2, K+ and Mg2+ in the shoots, but only of K+ in the roots of all varieties. Phosphate concentration showed no significant changes either in the shoots or in the rests. Salt tolerance mechanism in Cucumis melo seems to be assoc iated with a compartmentation process, since a correlation was found betwee n Na+ or Cl- uptake and tolerance. ((C) Inra/Elsevier, Paris.).