Abstract
The study was conducted to access the response of eighteen cotton varieties to four NaCl levels i.e., 100, 150, 200, 250 mM and one without added salt. Based upon six characters i.e. root, shoot length, fresh root, fresh shoot weight, dry weight and dry shoot weight examined for preliminary varietal comparison which significantly affected by salinity. Varieties were ranging from more tolerant to highly sensitive were identified base upon relative and absolute salt tolerant. Cultivars NlAB-78, B-821, MNH-93, BH-36, BH-74, CIM-434, S-12 and S-14 were categorized most tolerant to NaCl and cultivars CIM-1100, CIM-109, CIM-240 and FH-682 were proved to be moderately tolerant. The cultivars Karishma, Raishmi, SLS-1, and RH-1 were identified as the most sensitive to salinity. This data revealed differing tolerant of the cultivars and consequently existence of variation in salt tolerance in Gossypium hirsutum (L) .On the basis of high broad sense heritabilities, a potentially useful advance in NaCl tolerance seems possible to achieve by the selecting individual plant at the seedling stage.
