Comparison of Biochemical, Anatomical, Morphological, and Physiological Responses to Salinity Stress in Wheat and Barley Genotypes Deferring in Salinity Tolerance

Abstract

A greenhouse hydroponic experiment was performed using salt-tolerant (cv. Suntop) and -sensitive (Sunmate) wheat cultivars and a salt-tolerant barley cv. CM72 to evaluate how cultivar and species differ in response to salinity stress. Results showed that wheat cv. Suntop performed high tolerance to salinity, being similar tolerance to salinity with CM72, compared with cv. Sunmate. Similar to CM72, Suntop recorded less salinity induced increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation and less reduction in plant height, net photosynthetic rate (Pn), chlorophyll content, and biomass than in sensitive wheat cv. Sunmate. Significant time-course and cultivar-dependent changes were observed in the activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and glutathione reductase (GR) in roots and leaves after salinity treatment. Higher activities were found in CM72 and Suntop compared to Sunmate. Furthermore, a clear modification was observed in leaf and root ultrastructure after NaCl treatment with more obvious changes in the sensitive wheat cv. Sunmate, rather than in CM72 and Suntop. Although differences were observed between CM72 and Suntop in the growth and biochemical traits assessed and modified by salt stress, the differences were negligible in comparison with the general response to the salt stress of sensitive wheat cv. Sunmate. In addition, salinity stress induced an increase in the Na+ and Na+/K+ ratio but a reduction in K+ concentrations, most prominently in Sunmate and followed by Suntop and CM72.

Morpho-physiological and gene expression responses of wheat byAegilops cylindricaamphidiploids to salt stress

“…Studying barley, Han et al (2018) found tolerant genotypes to exhibit lower reductions in their dry biomass and less Na + accumulated in their roots and shoots than did the other wild or cultivated genotypes investigated. Consistent with our data, Zeeshan et al (2020) recently reported that the reduction in plant dry weight was much more noticeable in sensitive wheat cultivars subjected to salt stress. Similar results had also been reported by Kiani et al (2015) and Kumar et al (2017).…”

“…cylindrica genotypes (Kiani et al 2015) and salt-tolerant wheat cultivars (Kumar et al 2017). These findings are also complements to those reported on wheat and barley by Zeeshan et al (2020) who found that salt-stress induced significant changes in MDA content among their cultivars, with the highest recorded for a sensitive (Sunmate) wheat cultivar. MDA is one of the end products of lipid peroxidation indicating the status of ROS (reactive oxygen species).…”

Carbon Assimilation, Isotope Discrimination, Proline and Lipid Peroxidation Contribution to Barley (Hordeum vulgare) Salinity Tolerance

“…On the contrary, the tolerant varieties limited lipid peroxidation during salinity stress. This enhancement of H 2 O 2 and TBARs content indicates the prevalence of oxidative stress, and this may be one of the possible mechanisms by which toxicity of salinity could be manifested in the plant tissues [ 33 , 34 ]. As a result, low H 2 O 2 content is strongly correlated with tolerance to salt-induced oxidative stress in wheat and barley [ 34 ].…”

Resemblance and Difference of Seedling Metabolic and Transporter Gene Expression in High Tolerance Wheat and Barley Cultivars in Response to Salinity Stress

“…Suntop and barley cv. CM72, suggesting that Sunmate failed to some extent to restrict the accumulation of Na + in sensitive tissue like leaves or leaf canopy [17]. Besides, we also investigated plasma membrane Na + /H + antiporter, namely, SOS1, a long-distance Na + transport controller [41] that involves in transporting Na + into extracellular space after Na + enters the cell [42].…”