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Strawberry is one of the plants sensitive to salt and alkalinity stress. Light quality affects plant growth and metabolic activities. However, there is no clear answer in the literature on how light can improve the performance of the photosynthetic apparatus of this species under salt and alkalinity stress. The aim of this work was to investigate the effects of different spectra of supplemental light on strawberry (cv. Camarosa) under salt and alkalinity stress conditions. Light spectra of blue (with peak 460 nm), red (with peak 660 nm), blue/red (1:3), white/yellow (1:1) (400–700 nm) and ambient light were used as control. There were three stress treatments: control (no stress), alkalinity (40 mM NaHCO3), and salinity (80 mM NaCl). Under stress conditions, red and red/blue light had a positive effect on CO2 assimilation. In addition, blue/red light increased intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEi) under both stress conditions. Salinity and alkalinity stress decreased OJIP curves compared to the control treatment. Blue light caused an increase in its in plants under salinity stress, and red and blue/red light caused an increase in its in plants under alkalinity. Both salt and alkalinity stress caused a significant reduction in photosystem II (PSII) performance indices and quantum yield parameters. Adjustment of light spectra, especially red light, increased these parameters. It can be concluded that the adverse effects of salt and alkalinity stress on photosynthesis can be partially alleviated by changing the light spectra.

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Vigor and selected physiological parameters (content of phenolic compounds, soluble sugars, chlorophyll a and b, and carotenoids) of eight naked and two husked oat cultivars harvested at 15% moisture content were determined. Oat seeds were threshed using two rotational speeds of the threshing drum: 1.6 ms −1 (LS) and 2.4 ms −1 (HS). They were then inoculated with a medium pathogenicity strain of Fusarium culmorum, strain IPO 348-01. In naked cultivars, the use of HS resulted in more severe mechanical damage; in consequence, seedling vigor decreased by 16%. In naked cultivars chlorophyll a and b and carotenoids content were significantly reduced-by more than 64%-when the HS was used. The inoculation caused over a 100% increase of carbohydrates in roots at LS but only a slight increase at HS. Phenolic compound content was twice as high in roots than in leaves after inoculation for both LS and HS. Area of microdamage and reduction of root fresh weight (f.wt.) are significantly correlated with biochemical parameters. Smaller microdamage area and root f.wt. reduction are connected with higher physiological parameters, which confirms lower seedling susceptibility to pathogen infection.