Physiological responses to salinity in Silver buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea) introduced to Qinghai high-cold and saline area, China

Abstract

Since 2002, Silver buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea) has been introduced from North America in order to improve the fragile ecological environment in western China. To elucidate the salt-resistance mechanism of S. argentea, we conducted a test with two-year-old seedlings subjected to 0, 200, 400, and 600 mM NaCl solutions for 30 d. The results showed that significant salt-induced suppression of plant fresh mass (FM) and stem height of S. argentea seedlings occurred only at the highest salinity level (600 mM). Leaf number, plant dry mass (DM), and chlorophyll (Chl) content declined markedly at both 400 and 600 mM. Leaf area (LA) and leaf water potential (Ψ w ) continuously declined with the increase of salinity. There was also a progressive and evident decrease in net photosynthetic rate (P N ), transpiration rate (E), and stomatal conductance (g s ) with the increase of salinity and time. The correlation analysis indicated that P N was positively correlated with g s at all salinity levels while correlated with intercellular CO 2 concentration (C i ) only at moderate salinity levels (<600 mM). Based on the initial slope of the P N /C i curves, the estimated carboxylation efficiency (CE) was strongly inhibited at 600 mM. We confirm that S. argentea is highly tolerant to salinity. Moreover, our results show that at moderate salinity levels, salt-induced inhibition of photosynthesis is mainly attributed to the stomatal efficient closure predetermined by a low water potential in leaves; while at the high salinity levels, the inhibition is mainly due to the suppression of chloroplast capacity to fix CO 2 caused by the serious decline in both CE and Chl contents.Additional key words: growth; net photosynthetic rate; non-stomatal limitations; P N /C i curves; relative water content; stomatal limitations.

Physiological responses of Goji berry (Lycium barbarum L.) to saline-alkaline soil from Qinghai region, China

“…P N was positively correlated with g S under all stress levels (Table 1. ), which could explain why the reduction in g S caused a simultaneous decrease in both P N and E. Such an inhibitory effect on photosynthesis has also been reported in another plant 32 . The reduction in P N under salt and alkali stress is generally considered to be stomatal restriction caused by partial closure of stomata and decreased cell viability 33–35 .…”

Genome sequence and population genomics provide insights into chromosomal evolution and phytochemical innovation of Hippophae rhamnoides

“…The Elaeagnaceae family is mainly distributed in Southeast Asia, with approximately 80 species in three genera (Nazir et al ., 2020). There are many economically valuable plants in this family, such as species of H. rhamnoides , Elaeagnus latifolia Linn., and Shepherdia argentea , which play important roles in nutritional beverages, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and ecological regulation (Qin et al ., 2010). Genomic resources are essential to promote the molecular breeding of seabuckthorn and evolutionary research on the Elaeagnaceae family.…”

Changes in photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence, and antioxidant enzymes of mulberry (Morus ssp.) in response to salinity and high-temperature stress

“…Numerous studies have shown that salinity stress predisposes photosystem II (PSII) to photoinhibitory damage (Lu et al 2002;Maricle et al 2007;Hichem et al 2009;Qin et al 2010Qin et al , 2011Sui et al 2010). However, very little attention has been paid to the responses of PSII to salinity stress and high-temperature stress in combination (Henley et al 2002).…”