Kentucky Bluegrass Seedling Growth As Affected By Chloride and Sulfate Salts.

High soil salinity is a major problem in turfgrass management. Use of salt tolerant turfgrass plants may help reduce stress severity. Past research screening for salt tolerant plants has been mostly focusing on chloride salts-induced saline conditions, particularly NaCl. In many regions around the world, however, sulfate salts are at a higher level than chloride salts. The objective of this research was to determine the effects of Cl^- and SO₄^2- on Kentucky bluegrass seedling growth. ‘Moonlight’ and ‘Kenblue’ were exposed to a 2 cation (Na⁺ vs. Mg²⁺) x 2 anion (Cl^- vs. SO₄^2-) salt mixtures at 5, 10, and 15 dS/m during the germination and seedling growth stage. Data were collected on shoot (SDW) and root dry weight (RDW), total biomass (TOT), root to shoot ratio (RS), and the longest root length (LRL). Data were expressed as percentage of the control (i.e. non-saline condition) of each cultivar. The preliminary results showed that ‘Moonlight’ was more salt tolerant than ‘Kenblue’. RDW was not affected by the main factors or their interactions. RS was higher at 5 dS/m than that at 10 and 15 dS/m. SDW was influenced by anions, in which Cl^- was more detrimental than SO₄^2-.  Two-way (cultivar x concentration and cation x anion) and three-way (cultivar x cation x concentration) interactions were observed in the LRL and TOT, respectively. The results indicated that salt compositions, both cations and anions, need to be taken into consideration when evaluate salinity tolerance.