Background:

Soil salinity is a major menace to plants. Salt tolerant plants have developed different morphological, structural and physiological characteristics, which enable them to survive and reproduce under high salt concentrations.

Hypothesis:

It was hypothesized that differently adapted ecotypes of T. domingensis may have different structural and biochemical response to various levels of salt stress.

Studied species/Data description:

Six ecotypes of Typha domingensis Pers. were evaluated for anatomical and biochemical response and to find out the mechanism of adaptation under salt stress.

Methods:

All the ecotypes of Typha domingensis were acclimatized for a period of six months. Four levels of salinity viz. 0, 100, 200 and 300 mM NaCl were maintained. The plants were carefully collected from the medium to study various anatomical and biochemical characteristics.

Results:

The most promising anatomical modifications were; reduced leaf thickness in Sheikhupura, Gatwala and Treemu ecotype, increased cell vacuolar volume in Sahianwala and Knotti ecotype, larger metaxylem vessel in Sheikhupura and Gatwala ecotype, aerenchyma formation in all ecotypes and high sclerification in Sahianwala and Knotti ecotype. Accumulation of osmolytes mainly proline and glycinebetaine in Treemu, Sahianwala, Jahlar and Knotti ecotype under different levels of salt stress may be defense mechanism of T. domingensis to prevent severe loss in turgor.

Conclusions:

The results demonstrate that genetic potential of T. domingensis to grow under salt stress could be used for the purpose of phytoremediation and reclamation of soil salinity.

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