Determination of tolerance levels of different salt concentrations of Kırsehir local pepper genotypes

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the tolerance levels of different salt concentrations (0, 50, 100, 150 mM NaCl) tolerance levels of 30 pepper genotypes selected from the morphological and molecular characterized pepper genotypes collected from Kırşehir province center and villages after the surveys. In order to determine the reactions of different pepper genotypes to salinity, 0-5 scale evaluation for the symptomatic appearance of the plants, 50% flowering time, plant height, diameter of plant, number of leaves, stem and root wet-dry weights, leaf proportional water content, relative growth rate, membrane damage in leaf cells and to classify genotypes as well as chlorophyll and carotenoid according to the cases of salt stress as tolerant and sensitive, measurements and analysis were carried out. It was determined that the growth and development of pepper genotypes studied were inhibited by the effect of salt stress but the responses to the stress factor showed a wide variation. Pepper genotypes that are found to be tolerant to salinity can be recommended for breeding directly to growers or they can be used as gene sources in future breeding trials.