Threats of abiotic factors to the germination of Salicornia europaea L. and the measures for wetland species conservation

Abstract

Salicornia europaea L. is a salt-tolerant wetland plant with great economic value, but the population of S. europaea has been drastically reduced because its survival environment is seriously threatened. In this study, from the perspective of the germination stage of S. europaea, the relationship between the germination of S. europaea and different abiotic factors was investigated, the possible causes of environmental changes leading to the degradation of this species in coastal wetlands was explored, and the direction of wetland restoration, and optimized the conditions for artificial germination of S. europaea seeds was proposed. The results showed that S. europaea was sensitive to changes of GA3 concentration, salinity and temperature during the germination stage, the effect of water immersion treatment on seed germination was concentrated in the late stage of germination, and high salinity, low temperature and prolonged submergence of the seeds all led to limited seed germination. Meanwhile, the combination of analytic hierarchy process and orthogonal experiments were used to screen the range of these factors and the combination of optimal germination conditions, The optimal combined germination conditions was identified as 2000 mg/L gibberellin, 5‰ culture salinity, 20 ℃ culture temperature and 12-hour soaking time. and was validated having practical significance. In conclusion, the results of this study provide an insight to the relationship between degradation of wetland plant populations and abiotic factors, and help in the conservation of plant diversity and the domestication and utilization of wild wetland plants.