Osmotic Stress or Ionic Composition: Which Affects the Early Growth of Crop Species More?

Abstract

Salinization is a key soil degradation process. An estimated 20% of total cultivated lands and 33% of irrigated agricultural lands worldwide are affected by high salinity. Much research has investigated the influence of salt (mainly NaCl) on plants, but very little is known about how this is related to natural salinity and osmotic stress. Therefore, our study was conducted to determine the osmotic and ionic salt stress responses of selected C3 and C4 cultivated plants. We focused on the early growth stages as those critical for plant development. We applied natural brine to simulate natural salinity and to compare its effect to NaCl solution. We assessed traits related to germination ability, seedlings and plantlet morphology, growth indexes, and biomass and water accumulation. Our results demonstrate that the effects of salinity on growth are strongest among plantlets. Salinity most affected water absorption in C3 plants (28% of total traits variation), but plant length in C4 plants (17–27%). Compensatory effect of ions from brine were suggested by the higher model plants’ growth success of ca 5–7% under brine compared to the NaCl condition. However, trait differences indicated that osmotic stress was the main stress factor affecting the studied plants.

Pseudomonas stutzeri and Kushneria marisflavi Alleviate Salinity Stress-Associated Damages in Barley, Lettuce, and Sunflower

“…TWC decreased together with increased salinity. This result is in line with those by Ludwiczak et al (2021) , who identified the TWC of H. vulgare and A. sativa as one of the most affected traits under 150 mM NaCl. However, Garthwaite et al (2005) investigated the salt tolerance of eight wild Hordeum species (including H. bogdanii , H. intercedens , H. jubatum , H. lechleri , H. marinum , H. murinum , H. patagonicum , and H. secalinum ) and cultivated barley ( H. vulgare ) and observed the smallest reduction in this parameter for H. vulgare compared to the wild Hordeum species.…”

“…Moreover, gradual plant death was observed over several weeks during the experiment. Ludwiczak et al (2021) showed that osmotic stress rather than ionic effects is responsible for this process.…”

Photosynthetic, Respirational, and Growth Responses of Six Benthic Diatoms from the Antarctic Peninsula as Functions of Salinity and Temperature Variations

“…Salinity stress is related to the toxic effects of Na + and Cl − , and often results in a decline in photosynthetic activity or a change in PS II efficiency [ 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 ]. This can lead to oxidative stress, consequently damaging lipid membranes, proteins, or nucleic acids [ 90 ], while also interfering with the photosynthetic and respiratory electron transport. The accompanying effect of changing cell volumes can also lead to the deactivation of the photosynthetic apparatus [ 88 ].…”

Plant salt response: Perception, signaling, and tolerance

“…Salt stress causes plant growth inhibition, abnormal development, and metabolic disturbance (van Zelm et al, 2020). The detrimental effects of elevated salinity on plants include (i) osmotic stress as sodium accumulates in the soil and (ii) ionic stress (Figure 1) (Yang and Guo, 2018a;Yang and Guo, 2018b;Ludwiczak et al, 2021). Osmotic stress caused by hyperosmotic soil solution disrupts plant cell turgor.…”