Abstract
Xanthoceras sorbifolium Bunge is priced for its medical and energetic values. The species also plays a key role in stabilizing ecologically fragile areas exposed to excess soil salinity. In this study, the effects of salinity on the growth, physiological, and photosynthetic parameters of X. sorbifolium Bunge were investigated. The X. sorbifolium seedlings were subjected to five salt treatments: 0 (control, CK), 70, 140, 210, and 280 mM of sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions. NaCl caused a decrease in plant height, specific leaf area, biomass, and root parameters. Leaf wilting and shedding and changes in root morphology, such as root length, root surface area, and root tips were observed. This study found that X. sorbifolium is tolerant to high salinity. Compared with the CK group, even if the concentration of NaCl was higher than 210 mM, the increase of the relative conductivity was also slow, while intercellular CO2 concentration had a similar trend. Moreover, NaCl stress caused an increase in the malondialdehyde (MDA), soluble proteins, and proline. Among the enzymes in the plant, the catalase (CAT) activity increases first and decreased with the increase in the intensity of NaCl stress, but the salt treatment had no significant effect on superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. The peroxidase (POD) showed an increasing trend under salt stress. It was found that the photosynthesis of X. sorbifolium was notably impacted by saline stress. NaCl toxicity induced a noticeable influence on leaf net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs), intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), transpiration rate (E), and water use efficiency (Wue). As salt concentration increased, the content of chlorophyll decreased. It can be found that a low concentration of NaCl induced the increase of photosynthetic capacity but a high-intensity exposure to stress resulted in the reduction of photosynthetic efficiency and SOD activity, which had a positive correlation. In summary, salt-induced ionic stress primarily controlled root morphology, osmotic adjustment, and enzyme activities of salt-treated X. sorbifolium leaves, whereas the low salt load could, in fact, promote the growth of roots.
Highlights
High salinity is a major problem in arid and semiarid tropics (Allard et al, 1998; Mahajan and Tuteja, 2005)
With the increase of salt concentration, shoot Dry weight (DW), root DW, and the increasing rate of plant height all showed a trend of reduction, while the specific leaf area did not show any significant change (P > 0.05)
The results of this study indicated that the DW and relative height rate were significantly hindered under salinity stress, while the specific leaf area was not
Summary
High salinity is a major problem in arid and semiarid tropics (Allard et al, 1998; Mahajan and Tuteja, 2005). Xanthoceras sorbifolium Bunge, known as a yellow horn, is a kind of deciduous perennial shrubs or small trees of the Sapindaceae family and the monotypic genus Xanthoceras (Wang et al, 2018) It is one of the unique ecological oil species in northern China and is listed as one of the important tree species for biomass energy production. The species is considered an important bioenergy tree for biomass energy production due to its abundant content of seed kernel oil (55–65%), which is rich in unsaturated fatty acids (85–93%) (Wang et al, 2015) It has vigorous vitality and can grow healthily under various environments (Zhou and Cai, 2018). If X. sorbifolium Bunge can be widely planted in saline soils, it would provide valuable solutions for addressing the challenges of energy and ecology security
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
