Effect of salt stress on concentration of nitrogen and phosphorus in root and leaf of strawberry plant

Abstract

In this study the effect of salt stress on the concentrations of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in the leaves and the roots of two strawberry ( Fragaria vesca L.) cultivars (Camarosa and Sweet Charlie) was investigated on cold stored bare-rooted seedlings grown in buckets filled with coarse sand. The treatments consisting of no-NaCl control, 1760, 2400, and 3040 mg L -1 of NaCl in half-strength Hoagland nutrient solution were applied to the plants for six months. During the experiment, leaf and root sampling were performed two times with five months interval. Roots and leaves of the plants were analyzed for Na, Cl, N and P. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures was performed in Three Factors Completely Randomized Design for plant analysis results. Additionally orthogonal comparison was applied to the significant salinity effects. Cultivar and sampling time affected N, P, Na and Cl concentrations of the roots significantly. Cultivar-sampling time and sampling time-salinity interactions were significant for the N, P and Na concentrations of the roots. Salinity solely affected Cl concentrations of the roots significantly. All the treatments affected the concentrations of P, Na and Cl of the leaves significantly. The N concentrations of the leaves were affected significantly by only sampling time. Cultivar-salinity and sampling time-salinity interactions were found significant in the leaf N concentrations of the plants. The results show that the cultivars probably have different strategies in arrangement of N and P composition under salinity.