Salinity is one of the main problems of irrigated agriculture around the world. This problem is severe in many arid and semiarid regions. There are different ways for decreasing the effects of salinity in salt affected soils. These are: Reclamation of saline soils and waters and using of tolerant plants. Pistachio is one of the most popular crops of arid lands in Iran , which has been planted in these areas for thousands of years. At present over 50% of the world pistachio nut export belongs to Iran . Because of the moderate tolerance of this crop to salinity and extension of saline areas in Iran pistachio can be a suitable crop for many regions of this country. The main objectives of this work were to study the germination and establishment of four pistachio cultivars under different saline conditions. These cultivars were Ahmadaghaee, Badami, Ohadi and Kalleghouchi. The germination test was performed in polyethylene pots placing in a germinator at 25 ° C. For establishment stage seeds of pistachio cultivars were germinated and then transferred to pots filled with perlite. For three mounts seedlings were irrigated with ½ concentration of Johnson nutrient solution. Electrical conductivity of this solution was 0.5 dS/m and its pH was 6.65. Three months after planting, the nutrient solutions were salinized with NaCl to levels of 20, 40, 80, 120 and 160 mmol/L. Electrical conductivity of these solutions were 2.7, 5.4, 10.8, 16.2 and 21.6 dS/m, respectively. As far as the germination is concerned, the highest percentage of germination in low levels of salinity (up to 2.7 dS/m) was observed in Ahmadaghaee cultivar and by increasing the salinity from this level Badami cultivar showed the highest germination percentage. In establishment stage Ahmadaghaee cultivar showed a better growth in all levels of salinity than other cultivars. Kalleghouchi showed to be the most sensitive cultivar among the cultivars under study, both at germination and establishment. It seems that the best cultivar for germination in saline cultures is Badami but Ahmadahaee is the best cultivar for establishment in saline conditions. Increased salinity caused to increase the concentration of sodium and chloride in shoots and roots of all cultivars but this increase in tolerant cultivar was less than sensitive ones. Sodium concentration was higher in roots but chloride concentration was higher in shoots. Uptake of nitrogen in shoots decreased by increasing salinity. Micronutrient uptakes ( Fe, Zn, Cu, etc.) was decreased with increasing salinity.
