STUDY OF TOLERANCE AND PHYTODESALINATION POTENTIAL OF WHEAT, OAT, EMMER, AND BARLEY FOR SUSTAINABLE SALINE AGRICULTURE

Abstract

Cultivation of salt-tolerant plants is regarded as an innovative approach for desalination and remediation of salt-impacted agricultural soils. From this point of view, the effects of increasing NaCl concentrations in the root medium on some growth traits and development of wheat, oat, emmer, and barley under hydroponic conditions were studied and the phytodesalination potential of these plants was assessed at the greenhouse facilities of the YSU, Republic of Armenia. Crops were grown at six different degrees of salinity (0, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 mM NaCl) in a hydroponic system that was set up under greenhouse. The results show that the studied plants have different tolerance to increasing concentrations of NaCl. The negative influence of salinity on main growth parameters, relative electrolytic leakage, leaf succulence, chlorophyll content index, photosynthetic rate, and transpiration rate was expressed stronger in emmer compared with the rest of studied crops. Along with the increase in NaCl concentration in the root medium, simultaneously with the significant increase in Na+ content in the leaves of emmer, a decrease in K+ content was observed, whilst in wheat, oat, and barley, on the contrary, the increase in Na+ in the leaves was accompanied by the increase in K+ concentrations, which indicated the activation of some physiological adaptation mechanisms. Summarizing our results, we concluded that barley and oat could be suggested as promising crops for saline agriculture and soil phytodesalination, since they are survivable, productive and accumulate large amounts of ions in their above-ground parts.