Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Instructor, Agriculture and Natural Resources Institute of East-Azarbayjan, Tabriz – Iran.
2 Associate Professor, Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan, Zanjan – Iran
3 Associate Professor, Agriculture and Natural Resources Institute of East-Azarbayjan, Tabriz – Iran
Abstract
To evaluate morphological and biochemical changes of almond (Prunus dulcis Mill.) under salt stress conditions and determine relationship among accumulation of Na and Cl with these traits, an experiment was conducted based on completely randomized design with four treatments including 0 (control), 25, 50 and 75 mM of pure sodium chloride and three replications from 2010 to 2012. The seed of healthy almond genotypes grown in natural saline areas of East-Azerbaijan province were used as the experimental material in this study. Salt treatments were influenced during eight weeks following the growth and appearance of 15 – 20 leaves on each seedling. The results showed that the threshold of marginal leaf scorch symptoms was in relation with an accumulation of 9–11 mg/g DW Na. Also, mean of free proline content increased from 37.7 to 117.9 µmol.g-1 FW linearly and significantly in parallel with the accumulation of Na and Cl in the leaves. Under same conditions, catalase and ascorbate-peroxidase activity increased significantly; however peroxidase activity increased up to 50 mM salinity but decreased subsequently at higher levels of salt.
Keywords
)