Saline stress affects the growth of Saccharum complex genotypes.

Soil salinity affects plant growth, compromising sugarcane cultivation in regions with great production potential. Saccharum complex genotypes that respond positively to growth under saline environment can be used in the diversification of sugarcane cultivars to obtain greater economic returns. The objective of this study was to evaluate growth‐related traits of Saccharum genotypes grown under the presence and absence of salinity. The experiment was carried out in a 32 × 2 factorial scheme in a randomized block design with three replicates. The first factor consisted of 32 genotypes of the Saccharum complex and the second factor consisted of the presence and absence of salinity. The salinity provided higher mean values than the environment without salinity for plant height in the genotypes G9, G11, G13, G22 and G28, leaf number for G9 and G24, leaf area index for G9 and stem diameter for G1, G11 and G24. Among the genotypes tested, G1, G9, G11, G13, G22, G24 and G28 were the most promising genotypes and could be used for breeding new sugarcane cultivars of enhanced salinity tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]