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Effect of salinity and seed salt priming on the physiology of adult plants of Solanum lycopersicum cv. ‘Río Grande’

  • Biochemistry & Physiology - Original Article
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Abstract

NaCl priming of seeds can improve seed germination and seedling growth and increase the tolerance to salinity, but most research on salt tolerance in priming plants is restricted to the germination and seedling stages. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of soil water salinity and seed salt priming on the physiological responses of adult Solanum lycopersicum Mill. ‘Río Grande’ plants. A group of seeds was germinated in freshwater (control), and another group was germinated in an 85 mM NaCl solution (salt priming). Plants from both groups were grown during a period of 8 weeks in hydroponic culture. Subsequently, control and priming plants were divided into two subgroups. One subgroup was kept in freshwater, while 85 mM NaCl was added to the nutrient solution of the second subgroup. Tissue water relations, gas exchange, fluorescence and growth parameters were obtained at 0–15 days after the beginning of the experiment. The addition of NaCl to adult plants led to a reduction of leaf solute potential, photosynthetic maximum carboxylation and transpiration rates, and stomatal conductance but neither the chlorophyll content nor any of the parameters associated with the growth of the plant were negatively affected. Salt seed priming induces physiological changes such as improved osmotic adjustment, maximum quantum yield of photosystem II and, partially, the water use efficiency, characteristics that are considered to improve tolerance to salt stress.

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Abbreviations

C a :

Ambient CO2 concentration

A max :

CO2 assimilation rate under conditions of saturating PPFD and CO2

Γ:

CO2 compensation point

ETR:

Electron transport rate

A :

Instantaneous photosynthetic rate

C i :

Intercellular CO2 concentration

RWC:

Leaf relative water content

Ψs :

Leaf solute potential

FM′:

Maximal fluorescence in light-adapted leaves

F M :

Maximal fluorescence in dark-adapted state

Vcmax :

Maximum carboxylation rate

FV/FM :

Maximum quantum yield of PSII in dark-adapted leaves

Fo:

Minimal fluorescence

q N :

Non-photochemical quenching

Ψp:

Pressure potential

PS:

Primed plants grown in NaCl

ΦPSII :

Quantum yield of PSII

RGR:

Relative growth rate

SGR:

Seed germination rate

F :

Steady state in light-adapted leaves

g s :

Stomatal conductance

E :

Transpiration rate

Ψw :

Water potential

WUE:

Water use efficiency

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Acknowledgements

Financial support was provided by the Decanato de Investigaciones USB. We are grateful to Dr. Wilmer Tezara for kindly facilitating the gas exchange and fluorescence equipment and A Herrera for helpful comments on previous versions of this manuscript. I want to thank anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments that improved the manuscript.

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PGG, NS and OM designed the research; PGG and OM carried out the experiments; PGG, NS and OM analyzed the data and wrote the paper. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Correspondence to N. Suárez.

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González-Grande, P., Suárez, N. & Marín, O. Effect of salinity and seed salt priming on the physiology of adult plants of Solanum lycopersicum cv. ‘Río Grande’. Braz. J. Bot 43, 775–787 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-020-00636-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-020-00636-1

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