Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Physiological and biochemical analysis of barley (Hordeum vulgare) genotypes with contrasting salt tolerance

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Acta Physiologiae Plantarum Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Salt stress tolerance is a complex trait reducing drastically barley production. The present study assessed variability among two salt-tolerant contrasting barley genotypes on ROS-scavenging enzymes, osmorptectants, growth, water status and photosynthetic activity. The screening was released at the early vegetative stage under 200 mM NaCl during 0, 2 and 9 days. The results showed a significant earlier and higher increase in enzyme activities and transcript abundances of SOD and APX, in the salt-tolerant compared to the salt-sensitive genotype, In addition, the salt-tolerant barley genotype had better osmoprotection ability with higher accumulation of proline and soluble sugars contents. Hence conferring a differential growth performance among barley salt stress contrasting genotypes. Furthermore, High positive significant correlations have been detected between the antioxidative response (assessed by antioxidant enzymes activities and the expression profiles of their respective genes) and the osmotic response (evaluated by both proline and soluble sugars contents) under salt stress. Hence emphasizing the involvement of oxidative and osmotic homeostasis adjustment on averting ROS accumulation and resulting in significant growth rate sustain, water use efficiency and photosynthetic potential maintenance under salt stress.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbasi H, Jamil M, Haq A, Ali S, Ahmad R, Malik Z, Veen P (2016) Salt stress manifestation on plants, mechanism of salt tolerance and potassium role in alleviating it: a review. Zemdirb Agric 103:229–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abdallah MMS, Abdelgawad ZA, El-Bassiouny HMS (2016) Alleviation of the adverse effects of salinity stress using trehalose in two rice varieties. South Afr J Bot 103:275–282

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Acosta-Motos JR, Hernández JA, Álvarez S, Barba-Espín G, Sánchez-Blanco MJ (2017) Long-term resistance mechanisms and irrigation critical threshold showed by Eugenia myrtifolia plants in response to saline reclaimed water and relief capacity. Plant Physiol Biochem 111:244–256

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Adem GD, Roy SJ, Zhou M, Bowman JP, Shabala S (2014) Evaluating contribution of ionic, osmotic and oxidative stress components towards salinity tolerance in barley. BMC Plant Biol 14:113

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ahmad P, Umar S (2011) Oxidative stress: role of antioxidants in plants. Studium Press, New Delhi

    Google Scholar 

  • Arfan M, Habib A, Ashraf M (2007) Does exogenous application of salicylic acid through the rooting medium modulate growth and photosynthetic capacity in two differently adapted spring wheat cultivars under salt stress. J Plant Physiol 164(6):685–694

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ashraf M (2013) Harris PJC (2013) Photosynthesis under stressful environments: an overview. Photosynthetica 51(2):163–190. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-013-0021-6

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bates LS, Waldren RP, Teare ID (1973) Rapid determination of free proline for water stress studies. Plant Soil 39:205–207

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ben Chikha M, Hessini K, Nefissi Ourteni R, Ghorbel A, Zoghlami N (2016) Identification of barley landrace genotypes with contrasting salinity tolerance at vegetative growth stage. Plant Biotechnol 3:287–295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bheema IN, Reddy L, Kim BK, Yoon IS, Kim KH, Kwon TR (2017) Salt tolerance in rice: focus on mechanisms and approaches. Rice Sci 24(3):123–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bornare SS, Prasad LC, Kumar S (2013) Comparative study of biochemical indicators of salinity tolerance of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) with other crops: a review. Canadia J Plant Breed 1:97–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradford MM (1976) A rapid and sensitive method for the quantitation of microgram quantities of proteins utilizing the principal of protein–dye binding. Anal Biochem 72:248–254

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cakmak I, Marschner H (1992) Magnesium deficiency and highlight intensity enhance activities of superoxide dismutase ascorbateperoxidase, and glutathione reductase in bean leaves. Plant Physiol 98:1222–1227

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Chen F, Fang P, Zeng W, Ding Y, Zhuang Z, Peng Y (2020) Comparing transcriptome expression profiles to reveal the mechanisms of salt tolerance and exogenous glycine betaine mitigation in maize seedlings. PLoS One 15(5):e0233616. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233616

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Das K, Roychoudhury A (2014) Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and response of antioxidants as ROS-scavengers during environmental stress in plants. Front Environ Sci 2:1–13

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Del Longo OT, Gonzalez CA, Pastori GM, Trippi VS (1993) Antioxidant defenses under hyperoxygenic and hyperosmotic conditions in leaves of two lines of maize with differential sensitivity to drought. Plant Cell Physiol 34:1023–1028

    Google Scholar 

  • Dhindsa RS, Plumb-Dhindsa P, Thorpe TA (1981) Leaf senescence: correlation with increased levels of membrane permeability and lipid peroxidation, and decreased levels of superoxide dismutase and catalase. J Exp Bot 32:96–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Dubois M, Gilles KA, Hamilton JK, Rebers PA, Smith F (1956) Colorimetric method for determination of sugars and related substances. Anal Chem 38:350–356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ebrahim F, Arzani A, Peng J (2020) Salinity tolerance of wild barley Hordeum vulgare ssp. Spontaneum Plant Breed 139:304–316. https://doi.org/10.1111/pbr.12770

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein E (1972) Mineral nutrition of plants: principles and perspectives. John Wiley and Sons, Inc., London, p 1972

    Google Scholar 

  • FAO—FAOSTAT (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) (2018) www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC

  • Feriani W, Rezgui S, Cherif M (2016) Grain yield assessment of genotype by environment interaction of Tunisian doubled-haploid barley lines. J New Sci 27:1507–1512

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta B, Huang B (2014) Mechanism of salinity tolerance in plants: physiological, biochemical, and molecular characterization. Int J Genomics. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/701596

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Hammami Z, Sbei H, Kadri K, Jemel Z, Sahli A, Fraj MB, Nasr H, Teixeira da Silva JA, Trifa Y (2016) Evaluation of performance of different barley genotypes irrigated with saline water in South Tunisian Saharan conditions. Environ Exp Biol 14:15–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hasanuzzaman MD, Shabala L, Zhou M, Brodribb T, Corkrey R, Shabala S (2018) Factors determining stomatal and non-stomatal (residual) transpiration and their contribution towards salinity tolerance in contrasting barley genotypes. Environ Exp Bot 153:10–20

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hnilickova H, Hnilička F, Martinková J, Kraus K (2017) Effects of salt stress on water status, photosynthesis and chlorophyll fluorescence of rocket. Plant Soil Environ 63(8):362–367

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Imrul Mosaddek A, Huaxin D, Weite Z, Fangbin C, Guoping Z, Dongfa S, Feibo W (2012) Genotypic differences in physiological characteristics in the tolerance to drought and salinity combined stress between Tibetan wild and cultivated barley. Plant Physiol Biochem 63:49–60

    Google Scholar 

  • Kibria MG, Hossain M, Murata Y, Hoque A (2017) Antioxidant defense mechanisms of salinity tolerance in rice genotypes. Rice Sci 24(3):155–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lichtenthaler HK (1987) Chlorophylls and carotenoids: pigments of photosynthetic biomembranes. Method Enzymol 148:350–382

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mahlooji M, Sharifi SR, Razmjoo J, Sabzalian MR, Sedghi M (2018) Effect of salt stress on photosynthesis and physiological parameters of three contrasting barley genotypes. Photosynthetica 56:549–556

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Munns R, James RA, Läuchli A (2006) Approaches to increasing the salt tolerance of wheat and other cereals. J Exp Bot 57:1025–1043

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Najar A, Abassi M, Ben Ghanem H, Debez A (2017) Combined effects of Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) infection and salinity stress on barley growth and yield parameters. Tunis J Plant Prot 12:121–133

    Google Scholar 

  • Nakano Y, Asada K (1981) Hydrogen peroxide is scavenged by ascorbate specific peroxidase in spinach chloroplasts. Plant Cell Physiol 22:867–880

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ozgur R, Uzilday B, Sekmen AH, Turkan I (2013) Reactive oxygen species regulation and antioxidant defense in halophytes. Funct Plant Biol 40:832–847

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pérez-López U, Robredo A, Lacuesta M, Mena-Petite A, Muñoz-Rueda A (2012) Elevated CO2 reduces stomatal and metabolic limitations on photosynthesis caused by salinity in Hordeum vulgare. Photosynth Res 111:269–283

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rahnama A, James RA, Poustini K, Munns R (2010) Stomatal conductance as a screen for osmotic stress tolerancein durum wheat growing in saline soil. Funct Plant Biol 37:255–263

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Razzaque S, Elias SM, Haque T, Biswas S, Azad Jewel GMN, Rahman S, Weng X, Ismail AM, Walia H, Juenger TE, Seraj ZI (2019) Gene expression analysis associated with salt stress in a reciprocally crossed rice population. Sci Rep 9:8249. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-44757-4

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Redillas MCFR, Park SH, Lee JW, Kim YS, Jeong JS, Jung H, Bang SW, Hahn TR, Kim JK (2012) Accumulation of trehalose increases soluble sugar contents in rice plants conferring tolerance to drought and salt stress. Plant Biotechnol Rep 6:89–96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-011-0210-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rossatto T, Amaral MN, Benitez LC, Vighi IL, Braga EJB, Junior AMM, Colares Maia MA (2017) Gene expression and activity of antioxidant enzymes in rice plants, cv. BRS AG, under saline stress. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 23:865–875

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Sabir P, Ashraf M, Aisha N (2011) Accession variation for salt tolerance in proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) using leaf proline content and activities of some key antioxidant enzymes. J Agron Crop Sci 197(5):340–347

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sade N, Galkin E, Moshelion M (2015) Measuring arabidopsis, tomato and barley leaf relative water content (RWC). Bio-Protoc 5:1451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sairam RK, Roa KV, Srivastava GC (2002) Differential response of wheat genotypes to long term salinity stress in relation to oxidative stress, antioxidant activity and osmolyte concentration. Plant Sci 163:1037–1046

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schmittgen TD, Livak KJ (2008) Analyzing real-time PCR data by the comparative CT method. Nat Protoc 3:1101–1108

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tavakoli F, Vazan S, Moradi F, Shiran B, Sorkheh K (2010) Differential response of salt-tolerant and susceptible barley genotypes to salinity stress. J Crop Improv 24:244–260

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tricase C, Amicarelli V, Lamonaca E, Rana RL (2018) Economic analysis of the barley market and related uses. Grasses Food Feed 2:25–26. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.78967

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • You J, Chan Z (2015) ROS regulation during abiotic stress responses in crop plants. Front Plant Sci 6:1092

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu J, Fan Y, Shabala S, Li C, Lv C, Guo B, Xu R, Zhou M (2020) Understanding mechanisms of salinity tolerance in barley by proteomic and biochemical analysis of near-isogenic lines. Int J Mol Sci 21:1516. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21041516

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Zorb C, Geilfus CM, Dietz KJ (2019) Salinity and crop yield. Plant Biol 21:31–38

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We warmly thank Dr. Aida Bouajila and Dr. Badra Bouamama for prospecting barley accessions.

Funding

This work was supported by the International Foundation for Science (IFS) under the grant No C/5603–1.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Plant Molecular Physiology, Center of Biotechnology of Borj Cedria, BP 901, 2050, Hammam-Lif, Tunisia

    Rim Nefissi Ouertani, Mariem Ben Chikha, Oumaima Boudaya, Samiha Mejri & Abdelwahed Ghorbel

  2. Laboratory of Legumes and Sustainable Agrosystems, Center of Biotechnology of Borj Cedria, BP 901, 2050, Hammam-Lif, Tunisia

    Ghassen Abid

  3. Laboratory of Genetics and Cereal Breeding, National Institute of Agronomy of Tunisia, Carthage University, LR14 AGR01, 1082, Tunis, Tunisia

    Chahine Karmous

Authors
  1. Rim Nefissi Ouertani
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ghassen Abid
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mariem Ben Chikha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Oumaima Boudaya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Samiha Mejri
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Chahine Karmous
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Abdelwahed Ghorbel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rim Nefissi Ouertani.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by M. Prasad.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nefissi Ouertani, R., Abid, G., Ben Chikha, M. et al. Physiological and biochemical analysis of barley (Hordeum vulgare) genotypes with contrasting salt tolerance. Acta Physiol Plant 44, 51 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-022-03388-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-022-03388-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation