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The effects of salinity and osmotic stress on barley germination rate: sodium as an osmotic regulator

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Background and Aims Seed germination is negatively affected by salinity, which is thought to be due to both osmotic and ion-toxicity effects. We hypothesize that salt is absorbed by seeds, allowing them to generate additional osmotic potential, and to germinate in conditions under which they would otherwise not be able to germinate.
Methods Seeds of barley, Hordeum vulgare, were germinated in the presence of either pure water or one of five iso-osmotic solutions of polyethylene-glycol (PEG) or NaCl at 5, 12, 20 or 27 8C. Germination time courses were recorded and germination indices were calculated. Dry mass, water content and sodium concentration of germinating and non-germinating seeds in the NaCl treatments at 12 8C were measured. Fifty supplemental seeds were used to evaluate the changes in seed properties with time.
Key Results Seeds incubated in saline conditions were able to germinate at lower osmotic potentials than those incubated in iso-osmotic PEG solutions and generally germinated faster. A positive correlation existed between external salinity and seed salt content in the saline-incubated seeds. Water content and sodium concentration increased with time for seeds incubated in NaCl. At higher temperatures, germination percentage and dry mass decreased whereas germination index and sodium concentration increased.
Conclusions The results suggest that barley seeds can take up sodium, allowing them to generate additional
osmotic potential, absorb more water and germinate more rapidly in environments of lower water potential.
This may have ecological implications, allowing halophytic species and varieties to out-compete glycophytes in saline soils.
Key words: Barley, Hordeum vulgare, germination, osmotic potential, PEG, salt, seed, sodium, seed water
content.

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Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

Annals of Botany

No. Panggil

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Penerbit

: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company., 2010

Deskripsi Fisik

Annals of Botany 106: 1027–1035, 2010

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

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Klasifikasi

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Tipe Isi

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Tipe Media

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Tipe Pembawa

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Edisi

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Subjek

PERTANIAN.

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

yuli/agus

Versi lain/terkait

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