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Effect of salt stress on growth, fatty acids and essential oils in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.)

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Abstract

This study examined the influence of salt treatment on the growth parameters (fresh and dry weights), the mineral content (K+ and Na+), total lipid contents, fatty acid composition, yields and chemical composition of the essential oil of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) grown in hydroponics for 2 weeks. Results showed that the application of 50 mM NaCl reduced the fresh weight of aerial parts (shoots and leaves) while it enhanced those of the roots. The reduction of dry weight was found to be more pronounced in the aerial parts. Salt treatment increased markedly the concentrations of Na+ in both plant parts while it reduced those of K+ which resulted in a sharp reduction of K+/Na+ ratio. In response to salt treatment, total lipids contents decreased in both plant parts and great qualitative changes in the fatty acids profiles were observed. Whatever the plant parts analysed, a redirection of the lipidic metabolism towards synthesis of unsaturated fatty acids as revealed by the increase of double bond index and linoleic desaturation ratio was pointed out. The increased unsaturation index was found to be more important in roots than in aerial parts. Such treatment also reduced the essential oil yields and induced marked quantitative changes in the chemical composition of the essential oils from both plant parts. Of all the identified components, oxygenated components display a prominent salt-induced synthesis and/or accumulation in both roots and aerial parts.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Asma Allaoui (Laboratoire des Sciences de l’Environnement, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax, Tunisia) for the GC–MS analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité de Physiologie et de Biochimie de la Tolérance au Sel des Plantes, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Campus Universitaire el Manar, 1060, Tunis, Tunisia

    Jamel Harrathi, Najoua Karray-Bouraoui, Houneida Attia & Mokhtar Lachaâl

  2. Laboratoire des Substances Naturelles, Institut National de Recherche et d’Analyse Physico-chimique (INRAP), Pôle Technologique de Sidi Thabet, 2020, Sidi Thabet, Tunisia

    Karim Hosni

  3. Laboratoire des Substances Bioactives, Centre de Biotechnologie de Borj Cédria (CBBC), 1050, Hammam-Lif, Tunisia

    Brahim Marzouk

  4. Laboratoire d’Ecophysiologie et de Biotechnologie des Halophytes et Algues Marines (LEBHAM, EA 3877), IUEM, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, 29280, Plouzané, France

    Christian Magné

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  1. Jamel Harrathi
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  2. Karim Hosni
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  3. Najoua Karray-Bouraoui
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  4. Houneida Attia
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  7. Mokhtar Lachaâl
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Correspondence to Karim Hosni.

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Communicated by W. Filek.

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Harrathi, J., Hosni, K., Karray-Bouraoui, N. et al. Effect of salt stress on growth, fatty acids and essential oils in safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.). Acta Physiol Plant 34, 129–137 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-011-0811-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-011-0811-z

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