Abstract
Aim of the study: To evaluate the morpho-physiological changes of Acacia auriculiformis in response to seawater induced salinity stress along with its tolerance limit.Area of study: Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Bangladesh.Material and methods: Three saline treatments (4, 8, 12 dS m-1) were applied to six-month aged Acacia auriculiformis seedlings from January 2014 to June 2014 and the tap water was used as control treatment. To observe salinity effects, the following parameters were measured by using various established techniques: plant height and leaf number, plant biomass, shoot and root distribution as well as shoot and root density, water uptake capacity (WUC), water saturation deficit (WSD) and water retention capacity (WRC), exudation rate, and cell membrane stability.Main results: Diluted seawater caused a notable reduction in shoot and root distribution in addition to shoot and root density, though plant height, leaf number and plant biomass were found to be decreased to some extent compared to control plants. Water status of the plant also altered when plants were subjected to salinity stress. Nevertheless, membrane stability revealed good findings towards salinity tolerance.Research highlights: Considering the above facts, despite salinity exerts some negative effects on overall plant performance, interestingly the percent reduction value doesn’t exceed 50% as compared to control plants, and the plants were successful to tolerate salinity stress till the end of the experiment (150 days) through adopting some tolerance mechanisms.Additional key words: Salt stress; halophytes; growth parameters; WUC; exudation rate; membrane stability.Abbreviations used: BSMRAU (Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University); RCBD (randomized complete block design); DATI (days after treatment imposition); RWC (relative water content); WUC (water uptake capacity); WSD (water saturation deficit); WRC (water retention capacity); FW (fresh weight); DW (dry weight); TW (turgid weight); ROS (reactive oxygen species).
Highlights
Soil and groundwater salinization is one of the oldest and most austere environmental problems, posing critical challenges for the managing of agrarian and natural areas
Salinity stressed plant height and leaf number results indicate that the progressive increase in salinity levels triggers an increase in the percent reduction of the plant height and leaf number over control treatment
While compared with the values of control plants, it was apparent that the mean values and the percent reduction differences were higher in plants that had been treated with 12 dS m–1 salinity level (Table 1), being the total dry mass the variable which suffered the higher reduction
Summary
Soil and groundwater salinization is one of the oldest and most austere environmental problems, posing critical challenges for the managing of agrarian and natural areas. These problems are pervasive all through the world, affecting circa ~831-950 million hectares, which incorporates 397 and 434 million hectares of saline and sodic soils correspondingly (Teakle & Tyerman, 2010). Due to its annihilate nature, in a few parts of the world salinity is alluding as “Silent Killer” of natural production since it slowly kills plants and soil organism or as “White Death” since it conjures up white images of lifeless shining lands covered with dead trees (Tanji, 1990). The rate of plant growth relies upon a couple of principle events, for instance, cell division, cell enlargement and cell differentiation, together with genetic, morphological, physiological, biochemical and ecological activities and their intricate interactions, that are severely overwhelmed by salinity stress (Taiz & Zeiger, 2006; Islam et al, 2015)
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