Salt tolerance of a wild ecotype of vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides L.) in southern China

Abstract

BackgroundVetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides L.) is widely used in more than 120 countries for land management (e.g. rehabilitation of saline lands). A wild ecotype of vetiver grass was found in southern China in the 1950s, but little is known about its adaptability to saline stress. For the purpose of understanding its tolerance to salinity as well as corresponding tolerance mechanisms, in a greenhouse with natural lighting, seedlings were grown in culture solutions and subjected to a range of NaCl concentrations for 18 days.ResultsCompared to no NaCl treatment, 200 mM NaCl significantly reduced leaf water potential, leaf water content, leaf elongation rate, leaf photosynthetic rate and plant relative growth rate and increased leaf malondialdehyde (MDA) content, but the parameters showed only slight reduction at 150 mM NaCl. In addition, salinity caused an increase in the activity of antioxidant enzymes in leaves. Moreover, increasing NaCl levels significantly increased Na+ but decreased K+ concentrations in both roots and leaves. The leaves had higher K+ concentrations at all NaCl levels, but lower Na+ concentrations compared to the roots, thereby maintaining higher K+/Na+ ratio in leaves.ConclusionsOur results showed that the salinity threshold of this wild vetiver grass is about 100 mM NaCl, i.e. highly tolerant to salt stress. This wild vetiver grass has a high ability to exclude Na+ and retain K+ in its leaves, which is a critical strategy for salt tolerance.

Phytoremediation and Accumulation of Cadmium from Contaminated Saline Soils by Vetiver Grass

“…Similar results were observed by Jampasri et al (2017) who established that V. nemoralis could tolerate up to 333 mg/kg of soil Cd concentration under salt stress (EC 3.5 dS/m). However, Liu et al (2016) and Truong (1994) also showed that V. zizanioides had a salinity threshold of 10.0 and 8.0 dS/m, respectively, without Cd contamination. Generally, drought causes the increase in salt content in the farmland, and also the effect of drought or soil water stress decreased plant's ability to deal with heavy metals soil contamination.…”

External potassium mediates the response and tolerance to salt stress in peanut at the flowering and needling stages

“…It is generally accepted that maintaining K + homeostasis in plant cells depends on the selective uptake of K + and the cellular compartmentalization and distribution of Na + and K + in various organs (Carden et al 2003). Thus, K + and Na + SA and ST in plants strongly correlate with salt tolerance (Liu et al 2016). The results showed that under salt stress, the Na + content significantly increased in various organs, and the uptake of K + decreased, thus increasing the Na + /K + in each organ.…”

Essential oil bearing aromatic plants: Their potential for sequestering carbon in marginal soils of India

“…Highvalue aromatic plants can be successfully grown on the marginal lands owing their potential to grow on impoverish soils, lower nutrient requirements, better water use efficiency and diminish air pollution (Litskas, Chrysargyris, Stavrinides, & Tzortzakis, 2019). Marginal lands constrict agricultural productivity and profitability but could be utilized for the production of aromatic plants, which would not only ameliorate it but also provide higher benefit‐cost‐ratio and sequester C (Basak, Saha, Chinchmalatpure, & Manivel, 2018; Liu, Liu, Yao, & Ma, 2016).…”