Anatomical, morphological and physiological changes in sunflower varieties because of NaCl salinity
2002
Nawaz, S. | Akhtar, N. | Aslam, M. | Qureshi, R.H. | Akhtar, J. (University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (Pakistan). Dept. of Soil Science)
Self-sufficiency in edible oils can be achieved by increasing yield potential of oil seed crops. For this purpose high yielding varieties should be developed for good lands as well as for marginal lands like salt-affected lands where oil seed crops are grown with little attention. An experiment was conducted to observe the effect of NaCl salinity on two varieties of sunflower: Shamas and Noor in the hydroponics culture. The salinity levels: 0, 100, 150 and 200 mol m- 3 NaCl were imposed at seedling stage in a step- wise manner (4 equal installments). After a stress period of 40 days, the plants were harvested. Shoot length, number of leaves, fresh weight of leaves and total leaf area decreased with salinity but the extent of decrease was less in the case of Noor compared with Shamas. Average number of vascular bundles, area of xylem, area of phloem and schelerenchyma decreased with salinity with non-significant difference between varieties. Average number of stomata and number of xylem vessels in central bundle increased with salinity and this increase was more pronounced in Noor than Shamas. Sodium content of shoot increased with salinity while K and K:Na ratio decreased. These ionic changes were more pronounced in Shamas than in Noor indicating that Noor was more tolerant to external NaCl salinity particularly by maintaining low shoot Na and better K:Na ratio.
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