Screening for Salt and Water Stress Tolerance in Fir (Abies alba) Populations

Abstract

Drought periods are becoming more frequent and intense, due to the effects of climate change, threatening natural habitats worldwide, including European forests. Forest trees can also be affected by high soil salinity, because of the common practice of de-icing of mountain roads with NaCl in winter. We have evaluated the responses to salt and water stress of silver fir (Abies alba), an important forest species for which very limited information is available. One-year-old fir seedlings, with origin in seven different locations in Romania, were subjected to salt (watering with NaCl solutions of increasing concentrations) and water deficit (complete withholding of irrigation) treatments in the greenhouse. After one month, plant material was harvested and different morphological parameters were determined in the stressed and control plants. Both stress treatments inhibited growth of fir seedlings from all seven provenances, although quantitative differences in the responses to stress were observed between populations. Growth inhibition was established by the relative reduction – as compared to the non-stressed controls - in several parameters, such as stem elongation, root length, number of needles, or fresh weight and water content of roots and needles. Statistical multivariate analysis of the results suggested that seedlings from Valea Morii (population 6) were the most tolerant to both, water deficit and high (300 mM NaCl) salt concentrations. These results support the possibility to screen a large number of individuals from different populations, at the seedling stage, to select Abies alba genotypes with enhanced drought and/or salinity tolerance.
 
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 In press - Online First. Article has been peer reviewed, accepted for publication and published online without pagination. It will receive pagination when the issue will be ready for publishing as a complete number (Volume 47, Issue 4, 2019). The article is searchable and citable by Digital Object Identifier (DOI). DOI link will become active after the article will be included in the complete issue.
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Drought Hardening of European Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and Silver Fir (Abies alba Mill.) Seedlings in Mixed Cultivation

“…We found that moderate water deprivation mediated drought hardening in both species and that this effect was partially counteracted by rewatering. Similar results were not obtained in previous studies with beech or fir seedlings in monocultures [24,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40].…”

Responses to Water Deficit and Salt Stress in Silver Fir (Abies alba Mill.) Seedlings

“…In most plant species, therefore, determination of growth parameters is commonly used to assess the effects of stress on the plants. This approach is not so useful for slow-growing species such as conifers, including the silver fir, especially in the first years of life [22,57,58]. Nevertheless, after one month of water and salt stress treatments, we could detect a significant inhibition of growth in one-year-old silver fir seedlings, indicating that at this developmental stage, this species is relatively more sensitive to drought and high salinity than other conifers, for example, Picea abies [59].…”

Responses of silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) seedlings from different geographical locations to low temperature stress

“…This observation aligns with prior research indicating pronounced differentiation in silver fir populations concerning growth, ecophysiological, and biochemical traits. Such distinctions are attributed to disjunctions in its distribution, as indicated by the effects of the applied stress, as demonstrated in earlier studies with other stress factors (Șchiop et al, 2015;Todea et al, 2019).…”

“…is one of the most important forest trees in Central Europe, particularly in mountainous terrain and in the continent's southern and eastern regions (Ancuceanu et al, 2023). It is acknowledged as a valuable forest species due to its numerous uses (Todea et al, 2019;Todea et al, 2020).…”