Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of NaCl-salinity on the physiological attributes in common reed, Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steudel. Plants grew optimally under salinity treatment with standard nutrient solution without added salt and at NaCl concentrations up to 100 mM. Applied for 21 days, NaCl-salinity (300 and 500 mM) caused a significant reduction in growth allocation of all different tissues of P. australis. Shoot growth of reed plants displayed a highly significant correlation with plant–water relations and photosynthetic parameters. The net photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance of reed plants treated with NaCl-salinity at varying osmotic potential (ψπ) of nutrient solutions were positively correlated, and the former variable also had a strong positive relationship with transpiration rate. Leaf water potential and ψπ followed similar trends and declined significantly as ψπ of watering solutions was lowered. The increase in total inorganic nutrients resulting from increased Na+ and Cl− in all tissues and K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ concentrations were maintained even at the most extreme salt concentration. Common reed exhibited high K+/Na+ and Ca2+/Na+ selectivity ratios over a wide range of salinities under NaCl-salinity. These findings suggest that reed plants were able to adapt well to high salinities by lowering their leaf ψπ and the adjustment of osmotically active solutes in the leaves.
Abbreviations
- C i :
-
Internal CO2 concentration
- DM:
-
Dry mass
- E :
-
Transpiration rate
- FM:
-
Fresh mass
- g s :
-
Stomatal conductance
- P N :
-
Net photosynthetic rate
- RGR:
-
Relative growth rate
- S K/Na :
-
K+/Na+ selectivity ratio
- S Ca/Na :
-
Ca2+/Na+ selectivity ratio
- ψπ :
-
Osmotic potential
- ψp :
-
Turgor potential
- ψw :
-
Water potential
- WUE:
-
Water use efficiency
- WUEi :
-
Intrinsic WUE
References
Arnon DI, Hoagland DR (1940) Crop production in artificial solutions and in soils with special reference to factors affecting yields and absorption of inorganic nutrient. Soil Sci 50:463–484
Ashraf M (2003) Relationships between leaf gas exchange characteristics and growth of differently adapted populations of Blue panicgrass (Panicum antidotale Retz.) under salinity or waterlogging. Plant Sci 165:69–75
Ashraf M (2004) Some important physiological selection criteria for salt tolerance in plants. Flora 199:361–376
Ashraf M, Foolad MR (2007) Roles of glycine betaine and proline in improving plant abiotic stress resistance. Environ Exp Bot 59:206–216
Ashraf M, Harris PJC (2004) Potential biochemical indicators of salinity tolerance in plants. Plant Sci 166:3–16
Bates S, Waldren RP, Teare ID (1973) Rapid determination of the free proline in water stress studies. Plant Soil 39:205–208
Blum A, Munns R, Passioura JB, Turner C (1996) Genetically engineered plants resistant to soil drying and salt stress: how to interpret osmotic relations? Plant Physiol 110:1051–1053
Blumwald E, Aharon GS, Apse MP (2000) Sodium transport in plant cells. Biochim Biophys Acta 1465:140–151
Burdick DN, Buchsbaum R, Holt E (2001) Variation in soil salinity associated with expansion of Phragmites australis in salt marshes. Environ Exp Bot 46:247–261
Choi WJ, Ro H-M, Chang SX (2005) Carbon isotope composition of Phragmites australis in a constructed saline wetland. Aquat Bot 82:27–38
Debez A, Ben Hamed K, Grignon C, Abdelly C (2004) Salinity effects on germination, growth and seed production of the halophyte Cakile maritima. Plant Soil 262:179–189
Den Hartog C, Kvet J, Sukopp H (1989) Reed A common species in decline. Aquat Bot 35:1–4
Dunn GM, Neales TF (1993) Are the effects of salinity on growth and leaf gas-exchange related. Photosynthetica 29:33–42
Engloner AI (2009) Structure, growth dynamics and biomass of reed (Phragmites australis): a review. Flora 204:331–346
Gorai M (2009) Effects of salinity and hypoxia on physiological behavior of the common reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.). PhD. Thesis. Tunis El Manar University, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, Tunisia (in French)
Gorai M, Vadel MA, Neffati M (2006) Seed germination characteristics of Phragmites communis: effects of temperature and salinity. Belg J Bot 139:78–86
Gorai M, Vadel AM, Neffati M, Khemira H (2007) The effect of sodium chloride salinity on the growth, water status, and ion content of Phragmites communis Trin. Pak J Biol Sci 13:2225–2230
Gorai M, Ennajeh M, Khemira H, Neffati M (2010) Combined effect of NaCl-salinity and hypoxia on growth, photosynthesis, water relations and solute accumulation in Phragmites australis plants. Flora 205:462–470
Gorham J, Bristol A, Yopung EM, Wyn Jones RG, Kashour G (1990) Salt tolerance in the Triticeae: K/Na Discrimination in Barley. J Exp Bot 41:1095–1101
Greenway H, Munns R (1980) Mechanisms of salt tolerance in nonhalophytes. Ann Rev Plant Physiol 31:149–190
Hameed M, Ashraf M (2008) Physiological and biochemical adaptations of Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. from the salt range (Pakistan) to salinity stress. Flora 203:683–694
Hewitt EJ (1966) Sand and water culture methods used in the study of plant nutrition. Commonw Bur Hortic Tech Com 22:431–446
Hunt R (1990) Basic growth analysis. Plant growth analysis for beginners. Unwin Hyman, London
Jacobson L (1951) Maintenance of iron supply in nutrient solutions by a single addition of ferric-potassium-ethylene-diamine-tetracetate. Plant Physiol 26:411–413
Jaleel CA, Gopi R, Sankar B, Manivannan P, Kishorekumar A, Sridharan R, Panneerselvam R (2007) Alterations in germination, seedling vigour, lipid peroxidation and proline metabolism in Catharanthus roseus seedlings under salt stress. S Afr J Bot 73:190–195
Koyro HW (2006) Effect of salinity on growth, photosynthesis water relations and solute composition of the potential cash crop halophyte Plantago coronopus (L.). Environ Exp Bot 56:136–146
Lissner J, Schierup HH, Comín FA, Astorga V (1999) Effect of climate on salt tolerance of two Phragmites australis population. II. Diurnal CO2 exchange and transpiration. Aquat Bot 64:335–350
Maathuis FJM, Amtmann A (1999) K+ nutrition toxicity: the basis of cellular K+/Na+ ratios. Ann Bot 84:112–133
Marschner H (1995) Mineral nutrition of higher plants. Academic Press, London
Matoh T, Matsushita N, Takahashi E (1988) Salt tolerance of the reed plant Phragmites communis. Physiol Plant 72:8–14
Meloni DA, Oliva MA, Martinez CA, Cambraia J (2003) Photosynthesis and activity of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase and glutathione reductase in cotton under salt stress. Environ Exp Bot 49:69–76
Munns R (1993) Physiological processes limiting plant growth in saline soil: some dogmas and hypotheses. Plant Cell Environ 16:15–24
Munns R (2002) Comparative physiology of salt and water stress. Plant Cell Environ 25:239–250
Netondo GW, Onyangoa JC, Beck E (2004) Sorghum and salinity, I: response of growth, water relations, and ion accumulation to NaCl salinity. Crop Sci 44:797–805
Nobel PS (1991) Physicochemical and environmental plant physiology. Academic Press, San Diego
Pagter M, Bragato C, Brix H (2005) Tolerance and physiological responses of Phragmites australis to water deficit. Aquat Bot 81:285–299
Pagter M, Bragato C, Malagoli M, Brix H (2009) Osmotic and ionic effects of NaCl and Na2SO4 salinity on Phragmites australis. Aquat Bot 90:43–51
Parida AK, Das AB (2005) Salt tolerance and salinity effects on plants: a review. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf 60:324–349
Scholander PF, Hammel HT, Bradstreet ED, Henningsen EA (1965) Sap pressure in vascular plants. Science 148:339–346
Shachtman D, Munns R, White Cross MI (1991) Variation in sodium exclusion and salt tolerance in Triticum tauschii. Crop Sci 31:992–997
SPSS (2002) SPSS 11.5 for windows update. SPSS Inc, Chicago
Steduto P, Albrizio R, Giorio P, Sorrentino G (2000) Gas-exchange response and stomatal and non-stomatal limitations to carbon assimilation of sunflower under salinity. Environ Exp Bot 44:243–255
Sultana N, Ikeda T, Itoh R (1999) Effect of NaCl salinity on photosynthesis and dry matter accumulation in developing rice grains. Environ Exp Bot 42:211–220
Takahashi R, Nishio T, Ichizen N, Takano T (2007) Cloning and functional analysis of the K+ transporter, PhaHAK2, from salt-sensitive and salt-tolerant reed plants. Biotechnol Lett 29:501–506
Tezara W, Mitchell V, Driscoll SP, Lawlor DW (2002) Effects of water deficit and its interaction with CO2 supply on the biochemistry and physiology of photosynthesis in sunflower. J Exp Bot 53:1781–1791
Wang HL, Hao LM, Wen JQ, Zhang CL, Liang HG (1998) Differential expression of photosynthesis-related genes of reed ecotypes in response to drought and saline habitats. Photosynthetica 35:61–69
Wolf O, Munns R, Tounet ML, Jeschke WD (1991) The role of the stem in the partitioning of Na+ and K+ in salt-treated barley. J Exp Bot 42:697–704
Yeo AR (1998) Molecular biology of salt tolerance in the context of whole-plant physiology. J Exp Bot 49:915–929
Zhao KF, Song J, Fan H, Zhou S, Zhao M (2010) Growth response to ionic and osmotic stress of NaCl in salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive Maize. J Integr Plant Biol 52:468–475
Zhu JK (2001) Plant salt tolerance. Trends Plant Sci 6:66–71
Acknowledgments
We are thankful to the journal associate editor Prof. Sylvie Renault and three anonymous referees for their constructive comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by S. Renault.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gorai, M., Ennajeh, M., Khemira, H. et al. Influence of NaCl-salinity on growth, photosynthesis, water relations and solute accumulation in Phragmites australis . Acta Physiol Plant 33, 963–971 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-010-0628-1
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-010-0628-1