Effects of Salt and Water Stress on Leaf Production, Sodium and Potassium Ion Accumulation in Soybean

Abstract

Leaf traits of three soybean genotypes viz., Galarsum, BD 2331 and BARI Soybean 6 were evaluated for their salt and water stress tolerance under the salinity levels of 0, 50 and 75 mM NaCl and water stress with 70% depletion of available soil water at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University (BSMRAU), Salna, Gazipur, Bangladesh. The treatment were imposed in plants on 21 days after emergence and continued up to 56 days of age. The results of this study indicated that leaf traits like leaf number, leaf area and its dry weight of the soybean genotypes were sharply decreased when the plants were exposed to water stress, salt stress and, combined salt and water stress conditions. Least reduction in leaf traits was observed in Galarsum in all stress conditions. All leaf traits decreased more in 75 mM NaCl salinity combined with water stress treatment. The leaf dry weight was decreased to 39.72, 38.58 and 39.43% of the control in Galarsum, BD 2331 and BARI Soybean 6, respectively. The genotype Galarsum also accumulated lower amount of Na+ and higher amount of K+ in leaf tissues under salt stress and, combined salt and water stress environments as compared to others.