The impact of salinity on root and leaf anatomy of hordeum jubatum L.

Abstract

It had been generally accepted that salinity adversely affects the growth of plants. This study examined how the salinity level affects the growth of H. jubatum. A green house study was conducted to determine the effects of salinity levels on growth, and anatomy of root and leaf of H. jubatum. One week-old seedlings were transplanted and grown on 10-cm plastics pots filled with sand at Ball State University green house. Plants were subirrigated with hydroponic solution Dyna gro liquid 9-7-5 (NPK) and 0%, 0.5%, 1 %, and 1.5% NaCl for each treatment. The solutions were changed bi-weekly, evaporation losses were replaced daily. After aproximately 45 days, randomly chosen plants were harvested, washed, measured and weighted, to determine their growth such as: root biomass, shoot biomass, shoot height, leaf lenght, and leaf width. Slides of root and leave tissues were prepared with microtechnic standard using rotary microtome and N-butyl alcohol series. Anatomical variables measured included; root diameter, stele diameter, ratio of stele to root, thickness of leaf at mid vein, diameter of vb in mid vein, diameter of metaxylem in midvein, thickness of leaf at second lateral vein (left and right), diameter of vb at second lateral vein (left and right). The slides then were potoghraped with Olympus camera. Statistical analysis supported that salinity significantly affected the growth, morphology, and anatomy of H. jubatum.