Astragalus adsurgens pall. is a pasture perennial legume widely planted in northern China. A greenhouse experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of salinity on growth, nutrient, organic solute accumulation, pigments and chlorophyll a fluorescence of A. adsurgens seedlings. Seedlings cultured for 20 d under NaCl solutions were harvested and growth, dry matter and ion accumulation were analyzed. The growth parameters except root length were reduced after NaCl treatment. Nitrogen,

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... phorus and potassium contents decreased under NaCl salinity stress. Shoot water content decreased with increasing NaCl concentration whereas Na + , Cl -, proline and soluble sugar in shoot increased with increasing NaCl concentration. Moderate salinity (0.3 M NaCl or below) did not inhibit chlorophyll synthesis or photosystem II (PSII) function by inactivation of PSII reaction centers. High salinity (0.5 M NaCl) markedly disturbed chlorophyll synthesis and inhibits PSII activity. A. adsurgens is a salinity-sensitive plant species.