Abstract
Soil salinization imposes severe stress to plants, inhibits plant growth, and severely limits agricultural productivity and land utilization. The response of a single plant to saline-alkali stress has been well investigated. However, the plant community that usually works as a group to defend against saline–alkali stress was neglected. To determine the functions of plant community, in our current work, Suaeda salsa (S. salsa) community and Puccinellia tenuiflora (P. tenuiflora) community, two communities that are widely distributed in Hulun Buir Grassland in Northeastern China, were selected as research objects. Ionomic and metabolomic were applied to compare the differences between S. salsa community and P. tenuiflora community from the aspects of ion transport and phenolic compound accumulation, respectively. Ionomic studies demonstrated that many macroelements, including potassium (K) and calcium (Ca), were highly accumulated in S. salsa community whereas microelement manganese (Mn) was highly accumulated in P. tenuiflora community. In S. salsa community, transportation of K to aboveground parts of plants helps to maintain high K+ and low Na+ concentrations whereas the accumulation of Ca triggers the salt overly sensitive (SOS)-Na+ system to efflux Na+. In P. tenuiflora community, enrichment of Mn in roots elevates the level of Mn-superoxide dismutase (SOD) and increases the resistance to saline–alkali stress. Metabolomic studies revealed the high levels of C6C1-compounds and C6C3C6-compounds in S. salsa community and also the high levels of C6C3-compounds in P. tenuiflora community. C6C1-compounds function as signaling molecules to defend against stress and may stimulate the accumulation of C6C3C6-compounds. C6C3-compounds contribute to the elimination of free radicals and the maintenance of cell morphology. Collectively, our findings determine the abundance of phenolic compounds and various elements in S. salsa community and P. tenuiflora community in Hulun Buir Grassland and we explored different responses of S. salsa community and P. tenuiflora community to cope with saline–alkali stress. Understanding of plant response strategies from the perspective of community teamwork may provide a feasible and novel way to transform salinization land.
Highlights
According to the statistics of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), there are over 900 million ha of land with varying degrees of salinization worldwide
Given that Hulun Buir Grassland is influenced by obviously gradient salinization, here, we collected the rhizosphere soil of S. salsa community and P. tenuiflora community in Hulun Buir Grassland
We found that the rhizosphere soil of S. salsa community was chloride saline–alkali soil (Cl− and SO42−) and the rhizosphere soil of P. tenuiflora community was saline– alkali sulfate soil (SO42− and CO32−)
Summary
According to the statistics of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), there are over 900 million ha of land with varying degrees of salinization worldwide. These salinized lands span more than 100 countries and account for 6.5% of the world’s total land area as well as 60% of the world’s total arable lands (Xia et al, 2013; Xu et al, 2020). A large number of saline–alkali tolerant plants, such as S. salsa, P. tenuiflora, Mesembryanthemum crystallinum, and halophytes such as Tamarix hispida, Leymus chinensis, Populus nigra, Limonium bicolor, and Puccinellia distans have been investigated to explore the underlying tolerance or defense mechanisms (Kore-Eda et al, 2004; Taji et al, 2004; Wang et al, 2004; Ban, 2007; Wang et al, 2014; Zhao et al, 2016; Yin et al, 2019)
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
