African Journal of Agricultural Research Volume 9 Number 33 14 August 2014 ISSN 1991-637X ABOUT AJAR The African Journal of Agricultural Research (AJAR) is published weekly (one volume per year) by Academic Journals. African Journal of Agricultural Research (AJAR) is an open access journal that publishes high‐quality solicited and unsolicited articles, in English, in all areas of agriculture including arid soil research and rehabilitation, agricultural genomics, stored products research, tree fruit production, pesticide science, post harvest biology and technology, seed science research, irrigation, agricultural engineering, water resources management, marine sciences, agronomy, animal science, physiology and morphology, aquaculture, crop science, dairy science, entomology, fish and fisheries, forestry, freshwater science, horticulture, poultry science, soil science, systematic biology, veterinary, virology, viticulture, weed biology, agricultural economics and agribusiness. 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Dr. Andres Cibils Prof. Suleyman TABAN Assistant Professor of Rangeland Science Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Dept. of Animal and Range Sciences Faculty of Agriculture, Box 30003, MSC 3‐I New Mexico State University Las Ankara University, Cruces, 06100 Ankara‐TURKEY. NM 88003 (USA). Prof.Hyo Choi Dr. MAJID Sattari Graduate School Rice Research Institute of Iran, Gangneung‐Wonju National University Amol‐Iran. Gangneung, Gangwondo 210‐702, Dr. Agricola Odoi Korea. University of Tennessee, TN., USA. Dr. MATIYAR RAHAMAN KHAN AICRP (Nematode), Directorate of Research, Prof. Horst Kaiser Bidhan Chandra Krishi Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science Viswavidyalaya, P.O. Kalyani, Nadia, PIN‐741235, Rhodes University, PO Box 94, West Bengal. South Africa. India. Prof. Xingkai Xu Prof. Hamid AIT‐AMAR Institute of Atmospheric Physics, University of Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Houari Bouemdiene, B.P. 32, 16111 EL‐Alia, Algiers, Beijing 100029, Algeria. China. Prof. Sheikh Raisuddin Dr. Agele, Samuel Ohikhena Department of Medical Elementology and Department of Crop, Soil and Pest Management, Toxicology,Jamia Hamdard (Hamdard University) Federal University of Technology New Delhi, PMB 704, Akure, India. Nigeria. Prof. Ahmad Arzani Dr. E.M. Aregheore Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding The University of the South Pacific, College of Agriculture School of Agriculture and Food Technology Isfahan University of Technology Alafua Campus, Isfahan‐84156, Apia, Iran. SAMOA. Editorial Board Dr. Mohamed A. Dawoud Dr. Bradley G Fritz Water Resources Department, Research Scientist, Terrestrial Environment Research Centre, Environmental Technology Division, Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency Battelle, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, (ERWDA), 902 Battelle Blvd., Richland, P. O. Box 45553, Washington, Abu Dhabi, USA. United Arab Emirates. Dr. Almut Gerhardt LimCo International, Dr. Phillip Retief Celliers University of Tuebingen, Dept. Agriculture and Game Management, Germany. PO BOX 77000, NMMU, PE, 6031, Dr. Celin Acharya South Africa. Dr. K.S.Krishnan Research Associate (KSKRA), Molecular Biology Division, Dr. Rodolfo Ungerfeld Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Departamento de Fisiología, Trombay, Mumbai‐85, Facultad de Veterinaria, India. Lasplaces 1550, Montevideo 11600, Uruguay. Dr. Daizy R. Batish Department of Botany, Dr. Timothy Smith Panjab University, Stable Cottage, Cuttle Lane, Chandigarh, Biddestone, Chippenham, India. Wiltshire, SN14 7DF. UK. 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Dr. Ousmane Youm Prof. Huanmin Zhou Assistant Director of Research & Leader, College of Biotechnology at Inner Mongolia Integrated Rice Productions Systems Program Agricultural University, Africa Rice Center (WARDA) 01BP 2031, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Cotonou, No. 306# Zhao Wu Da Street, Benin. Hohhot 010018, P. R. China, China. African Journal of Agricultural Research Table of Contents: Volume 9 Number 33 14 August, 2014 ARTICLES Effects of salt stress on growth seedlings of two landrace varieties of durum wheat from the Tunisian centre (Triticum durum) 2528 Jlassi Ines*, Selliti Yosra and El Gazzah Mohamed Effect of nitrogen and application ways of a plant biostimulant on different wheat genotypes contrasting in stature 2540 Adriana Queiroz de Almeida1*, Peter Hedden2 and Rogério Peres Soratto1 Regeneration of cotyledonary nodes from the recalcitrant melon cultivar ‘Gaúcho’ 2546 Marcelo Nogueira do Amaral1, Fabiana Roos Nora2, Luciano da Silva Pinto2, Juliana Aparecida Fernando1 and Jose Antonio Peters1* Determination of favorable sowing date of sweet sorghum in the State of São Paulo, Brazil by crop modeling 2552 Lucas Eduardo de Oliveira Aparecido1*, Glauco Souza Rolim1 and Paulo Sergio Souza2 Evolution and prospects of the rice mill industry in Uganda 2560 Kunihiro Tokida1, Yusuke Haneishi1, Tatsushi Tsuboi1, Godfrey Asea2 and Masao Kikuchi3* Comparison of biometrical methods to describe yield stability in field pea (Pisum sativum L.) under south eastern Ethiopian conditions 2574 Mulusew Fikere1*, D. J. Bing2, Tadele Tadesse1 and Amsalu Ayana3 In vitro effect of two fungicides on pathogenic fungi causing root rot on tomato in Algeria 2554 Nisserine Hamini‐Kadar1*, Hajira Benaouili1, Soumaya Benichou1, Mebrouk Kihal1, Setti Benali2 and Jamel Eddine Henni1 African Journal of Agricultural Research Table of Contents: Volume 9 Number 33 14 August, 2014 Negative effect of three commonly used seed treatment chemicals on biocontrol fungus Trichoderma harzianum 2588 B. J. Sivparsad*, N. Chiuraise, M. D. Laing and M. J. Morris Vol. 9(33), pp. 2528-2539, 14 August, 2014 DOI: 10.5897/AJAR2014.8890 Article Number: 1F4C8DB46582 African Journal of Agricultural ISSN 1991-637X Copyright © 2014 Research Author(s) retain the copyright of this article http://www.academicjournals.org/AJAR Full Length Research Paper Effects of salt stress on growth seedlings of two landrace varieties of durum wheat from the Tunisian centre (Triticum durum) Jlassi Ines*, Selliti Yosra and El Gazzah Mohamed Laboratory of Biodiversity, Biotechnology and Climate changes, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, Faculty of Tunis El Manar, 2092, El Manar II, Tunis, Tunisia. Received 2 June, 2014; Accepted 25 July, 2014 The seeds of two durum wheat landraces, in the centre of Tunisia, were evaluated at germination and seedling growth for tolerance to salt condition induced by NaCl at the same water potentials of 0.0, -0.3, -0.6, -0.9 and -1.2 MPa with the electrical conductivity (EC) values of NaCl solutions 0.0, 6.5, 12.7, 18.4 and 23.5 dSm-1, respectively. In this study, we studied the percentage of germination and the growth of root and radicals of seeds stressed by salt. There was significant difference between Sboa Aljia and Jenah Khottifa in all parameters under salting stress. The germination percentage reaches the maximum at -0.3 MPa for both landraces varieties -97.33% for Sboa Aljia and 100% for Jenah Khottifa. The growth parameters are highly correlated to the level of salt stress. The highest water uptake noted for Sboa Aljia was 31.57% at 0 MPa. But we noted that the highest water uptake of seeds for Jenah Khottifa was 34.94% at -0.9 MPa. The length of radicle, the number of roots and the length of roots are highly correlated to the different levels of salt stress (coefficient of Pearson: 0.749, 0.418 and 0.695 respectively). Sboa Aljia is more resistant to salt stress than Jenah Khottifa. The growth of Sboa Aljia and Jenah Khottifa becomes slow and has low measures of parameters under the salt stress 14.2 g/L NaCl. Key words: Landrace durum wheat, NaCl, root, coleoptile, water uptake. INTRODUCTION To begin with, durum wheat is the most cultivated cereal table in combination with high soil salinity often leads to in Tunisia. There were 700 000 ha were sown in the permanent soil resource degradation. In arid and semi- season 2007-2008 (Bachta, 2011). The