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Salt-induced modulation in growth, photosynthetic capacity, proline content and ion accumulation in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.)

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Abstract

Salt-induced changes in growth, photosynthetic pigments, various gas exchange characteristics, relative membrane permeability (RMP), relative water content (RWC) and ion accumulation were examined in a greenhouse experiment on eight sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) cultivars. Sunflower cultivars, namely Hysun-33, Hysun-38, M-3260, S-278, Alstar-Rm, Nstt-160, Mehran-II and Brocar were subjected to non-stress (0 mM NaCl) or salt stress (150 mM NaCl) in sand culture. On the basis of percent reduction in shoot biomass, cvs. Hysun-38 and Nstt-160 were found to be salt tolerant, cvs. Hysun-33, M-3260, S-278 and Mehran-II moderately tolerant and Alstar-Rm and Brocar salt sensitive. Salt stress markedly reduced growth, different gas exchange characteristics such as photosynthetic rate (A), water-use efficiency (WUE) calculated as A/E, transpiration rate (E), internal CO2 concentration (C i) and stomatal conductance (g s) in all cultivars. The effect of 150 mM NaCl stress was non-significant on chlorophyll a and b contents, chlorophyll a/b ratio, RWC, RMP and leaf and root Cl, K+ and P contents; however, salt stress markedly enhanced C i /C a ratio, free proline content and leaf and root Na+ concentrations in all sunflower cultivars. Of all cultivars, cv. Hysun-38 was higher in gas exchange characteristics, RWC and proline contents as compared with the other cultivars. Overall, none of the earlier-mentioned physiological attributes except leaf K+/Na+ ratio was found to be effective in discriminating the eight sunflower cultivars as the response of each cultivar to salt stress appraised using various physiological attributes was cultivar-specific.

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Acknowledgments

The corresponding author gratefully acknowledges the funding from the Higher Education Commission (HEC) through Grant No. 20-403. The results presented in this paper are a part of MSc studies of Asma Hanif, Shumaila Hameed, Sundus Joham and Rehana Rehman.

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Correspondence to Muhammad Ashraf or Nudrat Aisha Akram.

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Shahbaz, M., Ashraf, M., Akram, N.A. et al. Salt-induced modulation in growth, photosynthetic capacity, proline content and ion accumulation in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). Acta Physiol Plant 33, 1113–1122 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-010-0639-y

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