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Effects of salinity on germination dynamics and seedling development in two amaranth genotypes

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Abstract

Amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus L.), commonly known as “kiwicha”, is a pseudo-cereal considered as the crop of future regarding its excellent nutritional value. It has also been suggested as a robust alternative to traditional cereal crops in arid and semi-arid regions where abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity have increased due to climate change. In order to study the seedling behavior and germination dynamics of this species against salinity stress, two amaranth genotypes (Red and Green) were randomly chosen among others and our investigation focused on both morphological and physiological traits. Salt stress was applied for 10 days. Our results show that Red genotype was more tolerant to salinity compared to Green since that the first gave a higher final germination rate and produced higher biomass. Moreover, the germination parameters are less affected in Red compared to those in Green genotype. The radicules of the first genotype accumulated more Na+ compared to those of the second one. Moreover, at low level of salinity (50 mM NaCl), Red genotype showed significant increase in the volatile polyphenol compound content, as well as in the total antioxidant activity, compared to the control (0 mM NaCl). Even if the inhibitory action of the methanoic extracts of both Red and Green genotypes was affected by the salinity, they showed an important activity against P. aeruginosa pathogen.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all Lab. staff for their help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mixed Tunisian-Moroccan Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biotechnology and Climate Change (LR11ES09), Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis EL Manar, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia

    Mohamed Tebini, Sabah M’Rah, Hela Ben Ahmed & Abdellah Chalh

  2. Laboratory of Plant-Soil-Environment Interactions, LR21ES01, Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis EL Manar, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia

    Mohamed Tebini, Hela Ben Ahmed & Abdellah Chalh

  3. Biochemistry and Biotechnology Laboratory (LR01ES05), Faculty of Science of Tunisia, EL Manar University, 2092, Tunis, Tunisia

    Ghada Rabaoui

  4. IPSiM, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, INRAE, Institut Agro, Montpellier, France

    Doan-Trung Luu

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  1. Mohamed Tebini
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  2. Ghada Rabaoui
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Correspondence to Mohamed Tebini.

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Tebini, M., Rabaoui, G., M’Rah, S. et al. Effects of salinity on germination dynamics and seedling development in two amaranth genotypes. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 28, 1489–1500 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-022-01221-4

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