Introduction

Importance of cicer arienthinum

Chickpea is a valued crop and provides nutritious food for an expanding world population and
will become increasingly important with climate change. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a major
grain legume, ranking third in global production after bean and pea (FAO, 2016). It is more
drought-tolerant than other cool season legumes, and its relative importance is projected to
increase in future due to global population growth and climate change (Bar-El Dadon et al.,
2017;Muehlbauer and Sarker, 2017). Despite being domesticated in parallel with other long day
vernalization-responsive legumes (pea, lentil) and cereals (wheat, barley) (Zohary and Hopf,
2000), the domestication history of chickpea is distinct from these other species ( Abbo et al.,
2003a). .other importance as a large proportion of the global chickpea crop is grown in short
season environments exposed to end-of season stresses that reduce their productivity (Kumar
and Abbo, 2001;Muehlbauer and Sarker, 2017)

Chickpea types
Chickpea types are consist of Desi and Kabuli types. The Desi type is characterized by relatively
small angular seeds with various coloring and sometimes spotted. The Kabuli type is
characterized by larger seed sizes that are smoother and generally light colored.

The crop is a relatively cheap source of protein (23%), carbohydrates (40%), oil (6%) ( Gil et al.,
1996), and minerals (Mg, K, P, Fe, Zn, and Mn) ( Ibrikci et al., 2003). Presently, chickpea is
cultivated in over 40 countries across all continents (Wubneh, 2016) on about 12 million
hectares globally with 65% and 8% share belonging to India and Pakistan, respectively (FAO,
2018;Muehlbauer and Sarker, 2017). Average global annual production of chickpea is about
12.1 million tonnes with 95% production and consumption occurring in developing countries
(FAO, 2018).
Average global annual production of chickpea is about 12.1 million tonnes with 95% production
and consumption occurring in developing countries (FAO, 2018). Chickpea has the third level of
production after beans by which its annual production means is over 10 million ton. In India an
increases were shown in the field area provided for the chickpea production recently is 13.5
million hectares. In developing countries chickpea plays an important role as a source of protein
for these areas that are not able to provide animal source of protein.
Cicer arietinum L (chickpea) is the second most cultivated leguminous crop with 13.1 million
tons per annum (mt annum −1) production, commonly grown on an estimated 13.5 million
hectares (mha) of land in tropical, subtropical, temperate and semi-arid areas, worldwide. India
is amongst the chief producers of chickpea, having 8.63 mha area under cultivation, 7.85 mt
annum −1 production with an average yield of 900 kg per hectare (kg ha −1 ) (CIME,
2010;FAOSTAT, 2015;Muehlbauer and Sarker, 2017). It constitutes 20-30% protein, 40-59%
carbohydrate, 3% fibre, 3-6% oil, 4% ash, and is a good source of absorbable ions like Ca, P, Mg,
Fe, K and essential B vitamins.

Salinity Stress

Salinity is one of the most serious factors limiting the productivity of agricultural crops, with
adverse effects on germination, plant vigour and crop yield (R Munns & Tester, 2008).
Salinization affects many irrigated areas mainly due to the use of brackish water. Worldwide,
more than 45 million hectares of irrigated land have been damaged by salt, and 1.5 million
hectares are taken out of production each year as a result of high salinity levels in the soil (R
Munns & Tester, 2008). High salinity affects plants in several ways: water stress, ion toxicity,
nutritional disorders, oxidative stress, alteration of metabolic processes, membrane
disorganization, reduction of cell division and expansion, genotoxicity (Hasegawa, Bressan, Zhu,
& Bohnert, 2000; R. Munns, 2002; Zhu, 2007). Together, these effects reduce plant growth,
development and survival. During the onset and development of salt stress within a plant, all
the major processes such as photosynthesis, protein synthesis and energy and lipid metabolism
are affected (Parida & Das, 2005). In regions that are fully or partly dry, salinity is a major factor
that influences growth and development of plants. The osmotic effects of salinity stress can be
observed immediately after salt application and are believed to continue for

the duration of exposure, resulting in inhibited cell expansion and cell division, as well as
stomatal closure (T. J. Flowers, 2004; R. Munns, 2002). Salt stress may negatively affect seed
germination by producing an external solute potential that hinders uptake of water or due to
the toxicity of Na + and Cl - on the sprouting seed. Germination percentage and rate also
reduced due to salinity, vigor seed and seedling growth or length of some crops (Ouerghi et al.,
2016). Salinity disturbs homeostasis water potential, ion distribution and instigates restriction
of growth and oxidative changes as alternative stress (Erdal et al., 2011)

Soil salinity
soil salinity is the salt content in the soil the process of increasing the salt content is known
as salinization. Salts occur naturally within soils and water. Salination can be caused by natural
processes such as mineral weathering or by the gradual withdrawal of an ocean. It can also come
about through artificial processes such as irrigation and road salt

Visibly salt-affected soils on

rangeland in Colorado. Salts
Natural Occurance dissolved from the soil
accumulate at the soil
surface and are deposited
Salts are a natural component in soils and water. The Ions responsible for
salination are: Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+ and Cl−. As the Na+ (sodium) predominates, soils can
become sodic. Sodic soil present particular challenges because they tend to have very poor
structure which limits or prevents water infiltration and drainage over long periods of time, as
soil minerals weather and release salts, these salts are flushed or leached out of the soil by
drainage water in areas with sufficient precipitation. In addition to mineral weathering, salts are
also deposited via dust and precipitation. In dry regions salts may accumulate, leading to
naturally saline soils. This is the case, for example, in large part of Australia. Human practices
can increase the salinity of soils by the addition of salts in irrigation water. Proper irrigation
management can prevent salt accumulation by providing adequate drainage water to leach
added salts from the soil. Disrupting drainage patterns that provide leaching can also result in
salt accumulations. An example of this occurred in Egypt in 1970 when the Dam was built. The
change in the level of ground water before the construction had enabled Soil erosion, which led
to high concentration of salts in the water table. After the construction, the continuous high
level of the water table led to the salination of the arable land
Dry land salinity
Salinity in drylands can occur when the water table is between two and three metres
from the surface of the soil. The salts from the groundwater are raised by capillary action to the
surface of the soil. This occurs when groundwater is saline (which is true in many areas), and is
favored by land use practices allowing more rainwater to enter the aquifer than it could
accommodate. For example, the clearing of trees for agriculture is a major reason for dryland
salinity in some areas, since deep rooting of trees has been replaced by shallow rooting of
annual crops.
Salinity due to irrigation
Salinity from irrigation can occur over time wherever irrigation occurs, since almost all water
(even natural rainfall) contains some dissolved salts. When the plants use the water, the salts
are left behind in the soil and eventually begin to accumulate. Since soil salinity makes it more
difficult for plants to absorb soil moisture, these salts must be leached out of the plant root
zone by applying additional water. This water in excess of plant needs is called the leaching
fraction. Salination from irrigation water is also greatly increased by poor drainage and use
of saline water for irrigating agricultural crops. Salinity in urban areas often results from
the combination of irrigation and groundwater processes. Irrigation is also now common in
cities (gardens and recreation areas).

Rain or irrigation, in the absence of leaching, can bring

salts to the surface by capillary action

Salt tolerance of crops
High levels of soil salinity can be tolerated if salt-tolerant plants are grown. Sensitive crops lose
their vigor already in slightly saline soils, most crops are negatively affected by (moderately)
saline soils, and only salinity-resistant crops thrive in severely saline soils. The University of
Wyoming and the Government of Alberta report data on the salt tolerance of plants.
Field data in irrigated lands, under farmers' conditions, are scarce, especially in developing
countries. However, some on-farm surveys have been made in Egypt, India, and Pakistan. Some
examples are shown in the following gallery, with crops arranged from sensitive to very
tolerant.
Salt stress
In salt stress, a phenolic compound Salicylic acid (SA) plays an important role in mitigating the
salt stress to protect plants Exogenously applied SA was shown to reduce the NaCl and ROS
contents. In addition, foliar application of SA improved the damaging effects of various abiotic
stresses (Yadu et al., 2017). Salicylic acid (SA) is an important endogenous signaling molecule
that modifies plant responses to pathogen infection. SA also indicated the significant role to the
increase of plants resistance to salinization. In count, SA-induced significant effect on the
resistance of plant growth i.e., increase in shoots and root growth, fresh weight and dry weight
of shoot and roots, and plant height of salt-stressed plant (Singh and Dwivedi, 2018). The
adverse effects of salinity on radicle length and biomass addition were significantly released by
SA. Supplemented SA caused a considerable decline in reactive oxygen species production. SA
had significant prompting effects on activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, guaiacol
peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase. Moreover, exogenous SA led to the higher proline, sugar
and glycinebetaine contents, than that of the control. On the basis of accumulated results SA
may be efficiently used to overcome the adverse signatures of salinity stress (Yadu et al., 2017).
It is detected that SA retains plant growth and development as well as interacts with other
defense mechanisms to different kinds of stresses (Sajid et al., 2016) The aim of the present
experiment was to investigate the mechanism involved in SA mediated salt stress resistance in
two varieties of Pisum sativum L. Therefore, to explain the roles of SA in the mitigation of NaCl
stress we have calculated the lethal effects of salinity on germination of P. sativum L on
morphological character of plant on some physiological characters and effect on soil.