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OLIVE TREE (OLEA EUROPAEA L. cv. “CHEMLALI”) UNDER SALT STRESS: WATER RELATIONS AND IONS CONTENT

CHEDLIA BEN-AHMED^{1, 2}, B. BEN-ROUINA², HABIB-UR-REHMAN ATHAR³, M. BOUKHRISS¹

Abstract: An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of salt stress on water relations and ions content of the Chemlali olive cultivar (Olea europaea L.) grown under field conditions in Sfax, Tunisia. Twelve-year–old olive trees were subjected to two drip irrigated treatments. The first is fresh water (EC of 1.2 dS m^-1, control plants, CP) and the second is saline water (EC 7 dS m^-1, stressed plants, SP). Leaf water relations were decreased due to salt stress. At predawn, it is of -1.4 MPa in SP and only -0.6 MPa in CP. The concentrations of Na⁺ and Cl^- ions were higher in tissues of SP. However, both Na⁺ and Cl^- in salt stressed roots were higher than in salt stressed leaves. Salinity in root zone led to a significant decrease in K⁺ concentration in both leaf and root tissues of stressed plants. The Chemlali olive tree tends to cope with salt stress conditions by decreasing enormously its leaf water potential; and excluding the major part of salt ions at the root level. These mechanisms are developed in order to activate water uptake and to avoid salt ions accumulation in actively growing tissues.

¹Laboratoire d’Ecophysiologie végétale, Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Tunisie
²Laboratoire d’Amélioration de Productivité Oléicole, Institut de l’Olivier, Sfax, Tunisie
³Institute of Pure and Applied Biology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan
Corresponding Author: Chedlia Ben Ahmed, benahmed.c@gmail.com