Chickpea response to saline water: Concurrence of ion homeostasis sustainment and antioxidative defense measures

Abstract

Chickpea is a salt-sensitive staple crop that is widely produced in the arid and semi-arid regions, where water limitation is often coupled to high salt concentration of soil and irrigation water. In order to better understand comparative physiological, growth, and yresponses of three chickpea genotypes (namely Greet, Jam, and ILC-482), they were assessed under four NaCl concentrations of irrigation water (0, 25, 50, and 75 mM). The examined genotypes shared a same trend of dose-dependent increases in Na+, total soluble carbohydrates, proline, malondialdehyde, and H2O2 concentrations, Na+/K+, and increases in the activity of catalase and peroxidase enzymes. Though, chlorophyll and carotenoids concentrations, days to flowering, and root and shoot K+ concentration, shoot and root dry mass, seeds/plant, 100-seeds weight, and seed weight/plant were decreased with aggravation of salinity. Genotype ILC-482 tended to withstand the 50 and 75 mM concentrations of NaCl more notably, as evidenced by a greater catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, and peroxidase enzymes activities, tissue K+ concentration and seeds/plant, concomitant to smaller shoot Na+ concentration and Na+/K+, compared to the other chickpea genotypes. The greater level of salt tolerance in genotype ILC-482 was ascribed to the greater activities of the antioxidative enzymes and ability to maintain ion homeostasis, reflected in its smaller Na+/K+.