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Physiological and molecular responses for long term salinity stress in common fig (Ficus carica L.)

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Abstract

Salinity stress in increasingly becoming a major challenge in current and expanding agricultural ecosystems. Unlike temporal abiotic stresses, plants are usually exposed to salinity stress for an entire lifespan. Therefore, a long term effect (10 weeks) of continuous salinity exposure was investigated for three common fig landraces (Zraki, Mwazi, and Khdari). Both relative water content and chlorophyll content decreased with elevated salinity stress, while stem length barely changed. The most prominent decline was observed in root biomass. The data would align common fig to moderately tolerant threshold slop with a C50 range of 100 to 150 mM NaCl. A high and significant correlation was evident between root biomass and chlorophyll content (85%). Concurrently, differential expression of putative salinity responsive genes in common fig were determined; signal peptide peptidase-like 2B (FcSPPL2B), dehydration responsive element binding protein (FcDREB), calcineurin B-like protein (CBL)-CBL-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 11 (FcCIPK11), sorbitol dehydrogenase (FcSORD) and dehydrin (FcDHN). The data were discussed for each gene in respect of its potential role in salinity stress mitigation. The combined physiological and molecular data would conclude Zraki as the most salinity tolerant genotype. The major implication of the data emphasizes the tremendous genotype by environment (salinity stress) interaction in common fig.

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Acknowledgements

The project was funded from Deanship of Scientific Research (Number 1781), University of Jordan, Jordan.

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  1. Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan

    Monther T. Sadder, Ibrahim Alshomali & Ahmad Ateyyeh

  2. National Agricultural Research Center, P.O Box: 639, Baq’a, 19381, Jordan

    Anas Musallam

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  1. Monther T. Sadder
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Supplementary Information

12298_2020_921_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 1 Phylogeny of FcSPPL2B and plants homologs based on parsimony method. Accession numbers are indicated to the left of scientific names. Branching points show bootstrap values. (TIFF 398 kb)

12298_2020_921_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 2 Phylogeny of FcDREB and plants homologs based on parsimony method. Accession numbers are indicated to the left of scientific names. Branching points show bootstrap values. (DOCX 383 kb)

12298_2020_921_MOESM3_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 3 Phylogeny of FcCIPK11 and plants homologs based on parsimony method. Accession numbers are indicated to the left of scientific names. Branching points show bootstrap values. (DOCX 391 kb)

12298_2020_921_MOESM4_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 4 Phylogeny of FcSORD and plants homologs based on parsimony method. Accession numbers are indicated to the left of scientific names. Branching points show bootstrap values. (DOCX 381 kb)

12298_2020_921_MOESM5_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 5 Phylogeny of FcDHN and plants homologs based on parsimony method. Accession numbers are indicated to the left of scientific names. Branching points show bootstrap values. (DOCX 388 kb)

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Sadder, M.T., Alshomali, I., Ateyyeh, A. et al. Physiological and molecular responses for long term salinity stress in common fig (Ficus carica L.). Physiol Mol Biol Plants 27, 107–117 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-020-00921-z

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