Plant Soil Environ., 2021, 67(1):26-32 | DOI: 10.17221/429/2020-PSE

Salt acclimation induced salt tolerance in wild-type and chlorophyl b-deficient mutant wheatOriginal Paper

Zhiyu Zuo¹, Fan Ye², Zongshuai Wang^*,3, Shuxin Li², Hui Li², Junhong Guo², Hanping Mao¹, Xiancan Zhu⁴, Xiangnan Li^*,2

¹ Key Laboratory of Modern Agricultural Equipment and Technology, Ministry of Education/ High-Tech Key Laboratory of Agricultural Equipment and Intelligence of Jiangsu Province, School of Agricultural Equipment and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, P.R. China

² Key Laboratory of Mollisols Agroecology, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, P.R. China

³ Crop Research Institute, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan, P.R. China

⁴ College of Life Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, P.R. China

Salt acclimation can promote the tolerance of wheat plants to the subsequent salt stress, which may be related to the responses of the photosynthetic apparatus. The chlorophyl (Chl) b-deficient mutant wheat ANK 32B and its wild type (WT) were firstly saltly acclimated with 30 mmol NaCl for 12 days, then subsequently subjected to 6-day salt stress (500 mmol NaCl). The ANK 32B mutant plants had lower Chl b concentration, which was manifested in the lower total Chl concentration, higher ratio of Chl a/b and in reduced photosynthetic activity (P_n). The effect of salt acclimation was manifested mainly after salt stress. Compared to non-acclimated plants, the salt acclimation increased the leaf water potential, osmotic potential (Ψ_o) and K concentration, while decreased the amount of Na⁺ and H₂O₂ in WT and ANK 32B under salt stress, except for Ψ_o in ANK 32B. In addition, the salt acclimation enhanced the APX (ascorbate peroxidase) activity by 10.55% and 33.69% in WT and ANK 32B under salt stress, respectively. Compared to the genotypes, under salt stress, the Ψ_o, F_v/F_m, P_n and g_s of mutant plants were 5.60, 17.62, 46.73 and 26.41% lower than that of WT, respectively. These results indicated that although the salt acclimation could alleviate the negative consequences of salt stress, it is mainly manifested in the WT, and the ANK 32B plants had lower salt tolerance than WT plants, suggesting that lower Chl b concentration has a negative effect on the salt acclimation induced salt tolerance in wheat.

Keywords: salinity; chlorina mutant; water relation; photosynthesis; chlorophyll a fluorescence

Published: January 31, 2021  Show citation