Back to Contents

FREE FULL TEXT PDF

INFLUENCE OF SALINITY ON GROWTH AND OSMOTIC RELATIONS OF SPOROBOLUS IOCLADOS

SALMAN GULZAR¹, M. AJMAL KHAN², IRWIN A. UNGAR³ AND XIAOJING LIU⁴

Abstract: Sporobolus ioclados (Nees ex Trin.) Nees (Poaceae) is a perennial salt secreting grass distributed from coastal sand dunes and marshes of the Arabian Sea to saline flats throughout the Indus basin in Pakistan. Effects of NaCl on growth, water relations and ion accumulation were studied. Plants were grown in 0, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 mM NaCl in sand culture using sub-irrigation method. Fresh and dry weight of roots and shoots were highest in non-saline control. Increase in salinity inhibited growth and plants had high mortality at 500 mM NaCl. Tissue water decreased with an increase in salinity. Water and osmotic potential decreased with increase in salinity and plants lost turgor. Stomatal conductance progressively decreased with the increase in salinity. Shoot ion content was low and showed little variation with increase in salinity.
 

Department of Botany, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan.

Department of Botany, Government Superior Science College, Shah Faisal Colony, Karachi-75230, Pakistan.
Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701-2979, USA.
Shijiazhuang Institute of Agricultural Modernization, CAS, Shijiazhuang 050021, P.R. China.
Corresponding Author: ajmal@halophyte.org, Phone: +92-21-482-0922, Fax: +92-21-924-3976.