Abstract
Crops are living in harsh condition ever since emergence such as high temperature, water shortage or excessive watering, high concentration of salt, heavy metals and among others described as abiotic stresses. The major plant nutrient Mg (magnesium), Ca (calcium) is involved in numerous physiological processes, and additional supplements can enhance plant growth and biomass under various environmental stresses such as salinity and heat. This study aimed to investigate, if Magnesium and Calcium sulfate applications on seedlings of Medicago sativa L., Trifolium pratense L., Festuca arundinacea Shreb. in practically relevant amounts can efficiently alleviate the effects of salinity and heat stress, namely reduced biomass, disturbed ion homeostasis and decreased growth. Seedlings were treated by fourteen treatments which include 100 mM NaCl, MgSO4 (0.5 mM, 1 mM, 2 mM); CaSO4 (5 mM, 7.5 mM, 10 mM); and salinity plus CaSO4 and MgSO4 under two temperatures (20 °C and 30 °C) with 16 h/8 h photoperiod in growth chamber. Results clearly demonstrated that combined salinity and heat stress had great effects on seedling growth but additional CaSO4 and MgSO4 have enhanced the growth specifically under stressed conditions. Significant increases in biomass (TB, root, shoot) and root length, as well as shoot height, has been achieved. The elemental analysis furthermore revealed an increment of Ca, Na (Sodium), K (Potassium) level when plants under salinity stress. Together, our results indicate that additional supply of MgSO4 and CaSO4 on seedlings turned to be efficient under abiotic stresses. It might be of practical relevance to add correct amount of CaSO4 and MgSO4 during the early growth phase of plants that are exposed to environmental stress.
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This study was financially supported by research fund of National Research Foundation (No. 2021R1F1A1052323) of Korea in 2021.
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Sharavdorj, K., Jang, Y., Byambadorj, SO. et al. The effect of MgSO4 and CaSO4 on seedlings of forage crops under environmental stress. Plant Physiol. Rep. 27, 702–716 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40502-022-00691-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40502-022-00691-8