Halopyrum mucronatum, Stapf. is a coastal sand dune grass, growing along seacoast of India and Pakistan. It serves as strong sand binder and usually spread by stolons within established populations, but is capable of invading new areas through the dispersal of seeds. Seed germination is one of the important stages in the life cycle of halophytes as it determines establishment and existence of these species in saline conditions. Attempts were made to determine effects of 0 to 3 percent concentrations of NaCl, KCl, CaCl2, MgCl2, Na2SO4, MgSO4 and seawater on seed germination behavior of the species. As a general trend, germination percentage as well as rate of germination decreased with increase in salinity. More than 99 % seeds germinated in non-saline control and the process was almost completely inhibited beyond 1 % NaCl, KCl, Na2SO4 and seawater. NaCl was most inhibitory salt while MgSO4 exhibited least inhibitory effects among the studied salts. With few exceptions, recovery germination varied from 60 to 97.7 % irrespective of the salts used for pretreatment when ungerminated seeds in salt solutions were transferred to distilled water.
