Silicon alleviates salinity stress in licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis) by regulating carbon and nitrogen metabolism

Abstract

Salt stress is one of the key factors that limits the cultivation of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. (G. uralensis) in the northern part of China. In this study, three salt treatments (including 21, 42 and 63 ds/m NaCl/kg dry soil) and four Si (silicon) concentrations (including 0, 1.4, 2.8 and 4.2 ds/m SiO2/kg K2SiO3 in dry soil) were tested using G. uralensis as the plant material in a pot experiment with three replications. The results showed that the application of various concentrations of Si increased sucrose synthetase (SS), sucrose phosphate synthetase (SPS) and glutamine synthetase (GS), as well as nitrate reductase (NR) activities, and promoted carbon and nitrogen metabolism. Si application also increased the root dry weight of G. uralensis. Multilevel comparative analysis showed that the application of 2.8 ds/m SiO2 was the optimum rate for improved growth and yield of G. uralensis under different salt levels. This study provides important information that can form the basis for the cultivation of high-yielding and high-quality G. uralensis in saline soils.

Assessment of The Effects of Silicon Application on Growth Parameters and Some Bioactive Components in Hungary vetch (Vicia pannonica Crantz)

“…This may be due to the indirect preservation of the structure of ion channels and nitrate carrier proteins in the membranes since Si protects the membrane integrity (Conceicão et al, 2019;Aras, 2020). Besides, Si may have also stimulated the synthesis of enzymes in nitrate metabolism (Cui et al, 2021). These results coincide with the literature.…”

“…Thus, shoot growth, fresh/dry weight are stimulated, water content is controlled and yield increases (Chen et al, 2016;Adelaal et al, 2020). Much as the water content in the seedlings did not show a significant change, the decrease in salt concentrations compared to the control and the increase in Si+NaCl confirmed this result (Adelaal et al, 2020;Cui et al, 2021). However, fresh/dry weight, root/stem length, quality and yield are closely related to the ratio of photosynthetic pigments and nitrogenous compounds in plants (Markovich et al, 2017;Adelaal et al, 2020).…”

“…Similarly, Si applications to plants under salt stress have been shown to stimulate the accumulation of amino acids with osmolyte properties, proteins in cells and tissues by increasing nitrate uptake in tomatoes (Manivannan et al, 2016), Brassicanapus (Haddad et al, 2018), sunflower (Conceicão et al, 2019) and Glycyrrhiza uralensis (Cui et al, 2021). Similarly, Khan et al (2014), Torabi et al (2015), Conceicão et al (2019) and Yin et al (2019) found that the amount of chlorophyll pigments and osmolites such as proline, protein, polyamines and sucrose decreased in salty conditions, whereas these compounds increased in the Si treated groups, as well as the increase in nitrate enzyme activity and nitrate content.…”

Silicon improves ion homeostasis and growth of liquorice under salt stress by reducing plant Na+ uptake

“…In the current study, we analysed the growth indicators, gas exchange parameters, Chl content, ion balance, osmotic regulators, membrane damage indicators, and antioxidant enzyme activity in the liquorice species G. uralensis and G. inflata. Although several studies have investigated the effect of Si on the growth of liquorice under salt stress 33 – 35 , 37 , 47 , this study demonstrates that exogenous application of Si by foliar spray enhances salt tolerance of G. uralensis and G. inflata .…”

“…To avoid the influence of osmotic pressure caused by K + when K 2 SiO 3 was added, 6 mM KCl was added to the control and treatment without Si, respectively. When the content of Cl - was low, its influence on plant growth could be ignored 37 .…”