Abstract
Salt inundation leads to increased salinization of arable land in many arid and semi-arid regions. Until genetic solutions are found farmers and growers must either abandon salt-affected fields or use agronomic treatments that alleviate salt stress symptoms. Here, field experiments were carried out to study the effect of the osmoregulators proline at 200 mg L−1 and glycine betaine at 400 mg L−1 in counteracting the harmful effect of soil salinity stress on canola plants grown in Egypt. We assessed growth characteristics, yield and biochemical constituents. Results show first that all growth characters decreased with increasing salinity stress but applied osmoregulators alleviated these negative effects. Second, salinity stress decreased photosynthetic pigments, K and P contents, whilst increasing proline, soluble sugars, ascorbic acid, Na and Cl contents. Third, application of osmoregulators without salt stress increased photosynthetic pigments, proline, soluble sugars, N, K and P contents whilst decreasing Na and Cl contents. It is concluded that the exogenously applied osmoregulators glycine betaine and proline can fully or partially counteract the harmful effect of salinity stress on growth and yield of canola.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agboma PC, Peltonen-Sainio P, Hinkkanen R, Pehu E (1996) Effect of foliar applied glycinebetaine on yield components of drought-stressed tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L). Exp Agric 33:345–352
Ali Q, Ashraf M, Shahbaz M, Humera H (2008) Ameliorating effect of foliar applied proline on nutrient uptake in water stressed maize (Zea mays L.) plants. Pak J Bot 40(1):211–219
Alia P, Saradhi PP, Mohanthy P (1991) Proline enhances primary photochemical activities in isolated thylakoid membranes of Brassica juncea by arresting photoinhibitory damage. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 181:1238–44
Arteca RN (1996) Plant growth substances; principles and application. Chapman and Hall, New York, ISBN-13: 9780412039119
Ashraf M, Foolad MR (2007) Roles of glycine betaine and proline in improving plant abiotic stress resistance. Environ Exp Bot 59:206–216
Ashraf M, Harris P (2004) Potential biochemical indicators of salinity tolerance in plants. Plant Sci 166:3–16
Ashraf M, MacNeilly T (2004) Salinity tolerance in Brassica oilseeds. Crit Rev Plant Sci 23:157–174
Ashraf M, Sharif R (1998) Does salt tolerance vary in a potential oilseed crop Brassica carinata at different growth stages? J Agron Crop Sci 181:103–115
Athar HR, Ashraf M (2009) Strategies for crop improvement against salt and water stress: an overview. In: Ashraf M, Ozturk M, Athar HR (eds) Salinity and water stress: improving crop efficiency. Springer, The Netherlands, pp 1–16
Athar HR, Ashraf M, Wahid A, Jamil A (2009) Inducing salt tolerance in Canola (Brassica napus L.) by exogenous application of Glycine beanie and proline: response at the initial growth stages. Pak J Bot 41(3):1311–1319
Bray EA, Bailey-Serres J, Weretilnyk E (2000) Responses to abiotic stress. In: Buchanan B, Gruissem W, Jones R (eds) Biochemistry and molecular biology of plants. American Society of Plant Physiology. Rockville, pp 1158–1203
Chaudhary MT, Wainwright SJ, Merrett MJ (1996) Comparative NaCL tolerance of Lucerne plants regenerated from salt-selected suspension cultures. Plant Sci 114:221–232
Chrominski A, Halls S, Weber DJ, Smith N (1989) Proline affects ACC to ethylene conversion under salt and water stresses in the Halophyte, Allenrolfea occidentalis. Environ Exp Bot 29(3):359–363
El-Ghamry WM, Al-Ahmar BA, El-Kafoury AA, Habib MS (1992) Salt tolerance of six varieties of rapeseed. Proceedings 5th Conference of Agronomy, Zagazig, 13–15 Sept., 1992, vol. (2):908–917
El-Tayeb M (1996) Effect of proline application on two salinity stressed crop plants 2-Growth and some metabolic activities. Bull Fac Sci 25(1-D):21–30, Assiut Univ
Folch J, Lee M, Sloane-Stanley GH (1957) A simple method for isolation and purification of total lipids from animal tissues. J Biol Chem 226:497–509, In: Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) Production year Book, 1999
Foyer C, Spencer C (1986) The relationship between phosphate status and photosynthesis in leaves. Effects on intracellular orthophosphate distribution, photosynthesis and assimilate partitioning. Planta 167:369–375
Francois LE (1994) Growth, seed yield, and oil content of canola grown under saline conditions. Agron J 86(2):233–237
Friedt W, Lühs W (1998) Recent developments and perspectives of industrial rapeseed breeding. Fett-Lipid 100:219–226
Gomez KA, Gomez AA (1984) Statistical procedures for Agricultural Research, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York, p 680
Harinasut P, Tsutsui K, Takabe T, Nomura M, Kishitani S (1996) Exogenous glycine betaine accumulation and increased salt tolerance in rice seedlings. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 60:366–368
Hasegawa PM, Bressan RA, Zhu JK, Bohnert HJ (2000) Plant cellular and molecular responses to high salinity. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 51:463–499
Hashem MN, Majumdar A, Hamid A, Hossain MM (1998) Drought stress effects on seed yield, yield attributes, growth, cell membrane stability and gas exchange of synthesized Brassica napus L. J Agron Crop Sci 180:129–136
Jackson ML (1967) Soil chemical analysis, 1st edn. Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, pp 144–197
Khadr I, Nyireds F, Shanahan F, Nielsen C, Andria R (1994) Ethephon alters corn growth under drought stress. Agron J 86:283–288
Lopez ML, Satti SME (1996) Calcium and potassium enhanced growth and yield of tomato under sodium chloride stress. Plant Sci 114:19–27
Mackinny G (1941) Absorption of light by chlorophyll solutions. J Biol Chem 140:315–322
Makela P, Peltonen-Sainio P, Jokinen K, Pehu E, Setaia H, Hinkkanen R, Somersalo S (1996) Uptake and translocation of foliar-applied glycine betaine in crop plants. Plant Sci 121:221–230
Munns R, Rawson HM (1999) Effect of salinity on salt accumulation and reproductive development of the apical meristem of wheat and barley. Aust J Plant Physiol 26:459–465
Munns R, Termaat A (1986) Whole plant responses to salinity. Aust J Plant Physiol 13:143–160
Murata N, Mohanthy PS, Hayashi H, Papageorgiou GC (1992) Glycinebetaine stabilizes the association of extrinsic proteins with the photosynthetic oxygen-evolving PS-II complex against the inhibitory effects of NaCl. FEBS Lett 296:187–9
Okuma E, Murakami Y, Shimoishi Y, Tada M, Murata Y (2004) Effects of exogenous application of proline and betaine on the growth of tobacco cultured cells under saline conditions. Soil Sci Plant Nutr 50(8):1301–1305
Ozdemir O, Melike B, Tijen D, Ismail T (2004) Effects of 2,4-epibrassinolide on seed germination, seedling growth, lipid peroxidation, proline content and antioxidative system of rice (Oryza sativa L.) under salinity stress. Plant Growth Regul 42:203–211
Rana VK, Rana U (1996) Modulation of calcium uptake by exogenous amino acids in Phaseolus vulgaris seedlings. Acta Physiol Plant 18:117–20
Redmann RE, Qi MQ, Belyk M (1994) Growth of transgenic and standard canola (Brassica napus) varieties in response to soil-salinity. Can J Plant Sci 74(4):797–799
Rhoades JD, Chanduvi F, Lesch S (eds) (1999) Soil salinity assessment. Methods and interpretation of electrical conductivity measurements. Irrigation and Drainage Paper No 57. FAO, Rome, p 153
Rhodes D, Hanson AD (1993) Quaternary ammonium and tertiary sulfonium compounds in higher plants. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 44:357–384
Ross JHE, Murphy DJ (1993) Differential accumulation of storage products in developing seeds and somatic cell cultures of Daucus carota L. Plant Sci 88:1–11
Sadasivam S, Manickam A (1996) Biochemical methods, 2nd edn. New Age International (P)Ltd., Publishers, New Delhi, ISBN 81-224-0976-8
Sairam RK, Srivastava GC (2002) Changes in antioxidant activity in sub-cellular fractions of tolerant and susceptible wheat genotypes in response to long term salt stress. Plant Sci 162:897–904
Sakr MT, El-Emery ME, Fouda RA, Mowafy MA (2007) Role of some antioxidants in alleviating soil salinity stress. J Agric Sci Mansoura Univ 32:9751–9763
Snowdon R, Lühs W, Friedt W (2007) Oilseed Rape. In: Kole C (ed) Genome mapping and molecular breeding in plants. Springer, Berlin, pp 55–114
Stewart CK, Lee JA (1974) The role of proline accumulation in halophytes. Planta 120:279–289
Thakur PS, Rai VK (1985) Exogenously supplied amino acids and water deficits in Zea mayz cultivars. Biol Plant 27:458–461
Troll W, Lindsley J (1955) A Photometric method for the determination of proline. J Biol Chem 215:655–660
Wang W, Vinocur B, Shoseyour O, Altman A (2001) Biotechnology of plant osmotic stress tolerance: physiological and molecular considerations. Acta Horticult 590:286–292
Weiss EW (1983) Oilseed crops. Longman, London, 660
Wright PR, Morgan JM, Jessop RS, Cass A (1995) Comparative adaptation of canola (Brassica napus) and Indian mustard (B. juncea) to soil water deficits: yield and yield components. Field Crop Res 42:1–13
Yang A, Britton G (1990) Carotenoids and Stress. In: Alscher RG, Cummings JR (eds) Stress responses in plant adaptation and acclimation mechanisms. Wiley-Liss, New York, pp 87–112
Yazici I, Turkan F, Sekmen AH, Demiral T (2007) Salinity tolerance of purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) is achieved by enhanced antioxidative system, lower level of lipid peroxidation and proline accumulation. Environ Exp Bot 61(1):49–57
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Sakr, M.T., El-Sarkassy, N.M. & Fuller, M.P. Osmoregulators proline and glycine betaine counteract salinity stress in canola. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 32, 747–754 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-011-0076-3
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-011-0076-3