The alleviation of salinity-induced stress by using boron in soilless grown rose

Abstract

Cultivation systems used for rose production often impose salt stress in arid and semiarid regions of the world. While boron (B) has been widely reported as a nutrient that can alleviate the adverse effects of salt stress on crop growth and yield, inadequate information is available regarding the emerging pattern of rose plant responses to an appropriate concentration of boron under salinity condition is available. To address this issue, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of different levels of B application (24, 34, 44, and 54 μM) on Rosa plants under two levels of salt stress (1.8 and 2.9 dS m−1). Cut rose (Rosa hybrida L.) “Dolce Vita” was grown hydroponically in containers with a mixture of cocopeat and perlite and nitrified by an automated drip-irrigation system. All levels of B application alleviated the salt stress-induced adverse effects on rose plants by improving leaf area, relative water, and soluble carbohydrate contents in leaves and maintained the osmotic potential which is essential for plant performance under salt stress. Boron also increased membrane permeability by decreasing the electrolyte leakage. Maximum salt resistance was obtained at about ≈40–60 µM boron concentration in the nutrient solution. These findings suggest that proper management of ions concentration in the nutrient solution including an appropriate concentration of boron application would help rose plants to cope with the challenge of salt stress.