Inducing salt tolerance in strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch) plants by acetate application

Abstract

Acetate, can be considered as an appropriate interface for increasing tolerance to salinity stress in strawberries. Strawberry plants were exposed to different treatments including control (Hoagland solution), salinity (40 mM NaCl), acetic acid (AA) (1 mM), acetic acid (1 mM) + salinity (AAS), ammonium acetate (AA) (1 mM), ammonium acetate (AM) (1 mM) + salinity (AMS), ammonium carbonate (AC) (0.5 mM), and ammonium carbonate (0.5 mM) + salinity (ACS) and put them in hydroponic system. The results indicated that salinity reduced shoot dry weight about 80.12% when compared with untreated control plants. That in comparison to acetate treatments, this reduction was 47.13 and 48.77% in AAS and AMS, respectively. Leaf area was decrease 59% in salinity treatment but this reduction was 14% in AAS. The AAS and AMS were most effective in increasing fruit yields (35.93 and 52.16 g per plant, respectively) in comparison to salinity treatment alone (27.23 g per plant) condition. In saline conditions, the highest amount of soluble carbohydrate was observed in AMS treatment (9.67 mg g−1 DW) that there was no significant difference with AAS treatment. Increase in Na+ and Cl− accumulation in shoots and decreased in K+ in saline condition were observed. The highest amount of potassium was observed in acetate treatments. The present results have demonstrated that acetate could improve tolerance to the salinity, yield and plants growth in strawberry. But, in comparison to AA and AM treatments, better results were observed in AA treatment in both salinity and non-salinity conditions.