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Salt stress induction of some key antioxidant enzymes and metabolites in eight Iranian wild almond species

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Abstract

The present work describes the changes in the activities of key antioxidant enzymes and the levels of some metabolites in relation to salt tolerance in eight wild almond species. All the species were exposed to four levels of NaCl (control, 40, 80 and 120 mM). Plant fresh biomass, α-, γ- and δ-tocopherol, total soluble proteins, malondialdehyde (MDAeq), H2O2, total phenolics, and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) were analyzed in leaves of salt-stressed and non-stressed plants of the eight almond species. In all the species, salt stress significantly enhanced the activities of SOD and POD, levels of total phenolics and γ- and δ-tocopherols. High levels of salt stress significantly depressed the levels of total soluble proteins, MDA and CAT activity, while salt stress did not significantly affect leaf H2O2 contents. Regression analysis showed that the relationship between salt levels and total soluble proteins, CAT, γ-tocopherol, MDAeq, SOD and POD were statistically significant. Principal component analysis discriminated the almond species based on their degree of tolerance/sensitivity to saline conditions: Prunus reuteri and P. glauca were ranked as salt tolerant, P. lycioides and P. scoparia as moderately tolerant, and P. communis, P. eleagnifolia, P. arabica and P. orientalis as salt sensitive. The results could be used for selecting salt tolerant genotypes to be used as rootstocks for almond cultivation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors offer grateful thanks to Shahrekord University for financial assistance, as well as to the Agriculture and Natural Resources Research Center of Shahrekord for the access to wild almond collection. We are thankful to S. Badfar and S. Mosavei for helping in arranging the facilities and to Mrs. F. Tavakoli, for his kind help in undertaking this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture, Shahrekord University, Shahrekord, P.O. Box 115, Iran

    Karim Sorkheh, Behrouz Shiran, Vahid Rouhi & Mahmood Khodambashi

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze dei Sistemi Colturali, Forestali e dell’ Ambiente, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Via dell’ Ateneo Lucano n. 10, 85100, Potenza, Italy

    Adriano Sofo

Authors
  1. Karim Sorkheh
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  2. Behrouz Shiran
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  3. Vahid Rouhi
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  4. Mahmood Khodambashi
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  5. Adriano Sofo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adriano Sofo.

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Communicated by G. Bartosz.

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Sorkheh, K., Shiran, B., Rouhi, V. et al. Salt stress induction of some key antioxidant enzymes and metabolites in eight Iranian wild almond species. Acta Physiol Plant 34, 203–213 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-011-0819-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-011-0819-4

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