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Vegetative growth, superoxide dismutase activity and ion concentration of salt-stressed watermelon as influenced by rootstock

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2008

SMILJANA GORETA ,
VILJEMKA BUCEVIC-POPOVIC ,
GABRIELA VULETIN SELAK ,
MAJA PAVELA-VRANCIC  and
SLAVKO PERICA
SMILJANA GORETA*
Affiliation:
Institute for Adriatic Crops, Put Duilova 11, 21 000 Split, Croatia
VILJEMKA BUCEVIC-POPOVIC
Affiliation:
University of Split, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry, N. Tesle 12, 21 000 Split, Croatia
GABRIELA VULETIN SELAK
Affiliation:
Institute for Adriatic Crops, Put Duilova 11, 21 000 Split, Croatia
MAJA PAVELA-VRANCIC
Affiliation:
University of Split, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Chemistry, N. Tesle 12, 21 000 Split, Croatia
SLAVKO PERICA
Affiliation:
Institute for Adriatic Crops, Put Duilova 11, 21 000 Split, Croatia
*
*To whom all correspondance should be addressed. Email: [email protected]
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Summary

Watermelon is a crop with a high water demand and is frequently grown under conditions of higher than normal root-zone salinity. In the present study, seedlings of watermelon (cv. Fantasy, Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum & Nakai) were grown either ungrafted or grafted on three rootstocks: Strong Tosa, S1 (both Cucurbita maxima×Cucurbita moschata), or Emphasis (Lagenaria siceraria). All the plants were exposed to an NaCl-induced salinity stress (electrical conductivity, EC=2·2, 4·0, or 6·0 dS/m). The vegetative growth of all the plants substantially reduced after 2 weeks of exposure to 6·0 dS/m; however, growth of the plants grafted on Strong Tosa reduced less than that of the others. The leaf water content and specific leaf area (SLA, m2/g) decreased with an increasing salinity in grafted plants, but not in ungrafted plants. Salinity induced an increase of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in grafted plants up to two-fold depending on the rootstock, whereas it had no effect on this enzyme activity in ungrafted plants. Leaf Na+ concentration increased with increasing salinity in ungrafted and S1 grafted plants, whereas there was no significant leaf Na+ accumulation in Emphasis and Strong Tosa grafted plants. Leaf K+ concentration was affected by the rootstock but not by salinity, thus, the ability to keep a high K+/Na+ ratio was achieved mainly by limiting leaf Na+ concentration. The rootstock determined the leaf Cl− accumulation, with lower overall concentrations found if plants were grafted on the S1 rootstock than on Emphasis or ungrafted plants. Salinity significantly decreased the leaf NO3− concentration on Emphasis grafted plants only, while the NO3−/Cl− ratio was reduced in all the rootstocks. The capacity of Strong Tosa to withstand salt stress better than other tested rootstocks was probably due to the ability to induce anatomical adaptation (SLA) and SOD activity in response to salt stress, and also to the efficiency of Na+ exclusion from the shoot.

Type
Crops and Soils
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 146 , Issue 6 , December 2008 , pp. 695 - 704
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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