Abstract
A greenhouse study was conducted in order to determine interactive effects of NaCl salinity and B on the growth, sodium (Na), chloride (Cl), boron (B), potassium (K) concentrations and membrane permeability of salt resistant Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L. cv. Lale F1) and salt sensitive cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv. Santana F1) plants. Plants were grown in a factorial combination of NaCl (0 and 30 mM for cucumber and 0 and 40 mM for tomato) and B (0, 5, 10 and 20 mg kg−1 soil). Boron toxicity symptoms appeared at 5 mg kg−1 B treatments in both plants. Salinity caused an increase in leaf injury due to B toxicity, but it was more severe in cucumber. Dry weights of the plants decreased with the increasing levels of applied B in nonsaline conditions, but the decrease in dry weights due to B toxicity was more pronounced in saline conditions especially in cucumber. Salinity × B interaction on the concentration of B in both plants was found significant. However, increase in B concentrations of tomato decreased under saline conditions when compared to nonsaline conditions. Contrary to this, B concentration of cucumber increased as a result of increasing levels of applied B and salinity. Salinity increased Na and Cl concentrations of both plants.
Potassium concentration of tomato was not affected by salinity and B treatments, but K concentration of cucumber was decreased by salinity. Membrane permeability of the plants was increased by salinity while toxic levels of B had no effect on membrane permeability in nonsaline conditions. Membrane permeability was significantly increased in the presence of salinity by the increasing levels of applied B.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alfocea F P, Estan M T, Caro M and Bolarin M C 1993 Response of tomato cultivars to salinity. Plant Soil 150, 203–211.
Alpaslan M, Gunes A and Taban S 1999 Salinity resistance of certain rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars. Tr. J. Biol. 23, 499–506.
Bergmann W 1992 Nutritional Disorders of Plants. pp 289–294. Gustav Fisher Verlag, Stutgart.
Bingham F T, Strong J E, Rhoades J D and Keren R 1987 Effects of salinity and varying boron concentrations on boron uptake and growth of wheat. Plant Soil 97, 345–351.
Brown P H and Hu H 1994 Boron uptake by sunflower, squash and cultured tobacco cells. Physiol. Plant 91, 435–441.
Carjaval M, Cerda A and Martinez V 2000 Modification of the response of saline stressed tomato plants by the correction of cation disorders. Plant Growth Reg. 30, 37–47.
Dhankhar D P and Dahiya S S 1980 The effect of different levels of boron and soil salinity on the yield of dry matter and its mineral composition in Ber (Zizyphus rotundifola). Int. Symp. Salt Affected Soils. Carnal, India, pp 396–403.
Greenway H and Munns R 1980 Mechanism of salt tolerance in non-halophytes. Annu. Rev. Plant. Physiol. 31, 149–190.
Grieve C M and Poss J A 2000.Wheat response to interactive effects of boron and salinity. J. Plant Nutr. 23, 1217–1226.
Gunes A, Inal A and Alpaslan M 1996 Effect of salinity on stomatal resistance, proline and mineral composition of pepper. J. Plant Nutr. 19, 389–396.
Holloway R E and Alston A M 1992 The effects of salt and boron on growth of wheat. Aust. J. Agric. Res. 43, 987–1001.
Hu H and Brown P H 1997 Absorption of boron by plant roots. In Boron in Plants and Soils. Eds. Dell B, Brown P H and Bell R W. pp 49–58. Kluwer Acad. Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Inal A and Tarakcioglu C 2001 Effects of nitrogen forms on the growth, nitrate accumulation, membrane permeability, and nitrogen use efficiency of hydroponically grown bunch onion (Allium cepa L.) under boron deficiency and toxicity. J. Plant Nutr. in press.
Kochian L V 1991 Mechanisms of micronutrient uptake and translocation in plants. In Micronutrients in Agriculture. Eds. Mortvedt J J, Coks F R, Shuman L M and Welch R M. pp 229–296. Soil Sci. Soc. of Amer. Madison.
Lambert R S and DuBois R J 1971 Spectrophotometric determination of nitrate in the presence of chloride. Anal. Chem. 43, 494–501.
Marschner H 1995 Mineral Nutrition of Higher Plants. 2nd Edn. Academic Press, New York.
Nable R O, Lance R C M and Cartwright B 1990. Uptake of boron and silicon by barley genotypes with differing susceptibilities to boron toxicity. Ann. Bot. 66, 83–90.
Nable R O 1988 Resistance to boron toxicity amongst several barley and wheat cultivars: A preliminary examination of the resistance mechanism. Plant Soil 112, 45–47.
Nable R O 1991 Distribution of B within barley genotypes with differing susceptibilities to boron toxicity. J. Plant Nutr. 14, 453–461.
Nable R O and Paull J G 1991 Mechanism and genetics of tolerance to boron toxicity in plants. Current Topics Plant Biochem. Physiol. 10, 257–273.
Nable R O, Banuelos G S and Paull J G 1997 Boron toxicity. Plant Soil 193, 181–198.
Paull J G, Nable R O, Lake A W H, Materne M A and Rathjen A J 1992 Response of annual medics (Medicago spp.) and field peas (Pisum sativum) to high concentration of boron: genetic variation and the mechanism of tolerance. Austr. J. Agri. Res. 43, 203–213.
Pfeffer H, Dannel F and Römheld V 1999 Are there two mechanism for boron uptake in sunflower? J. Plant Physiol. 155, 34–40.
Raven J A 1980 Short and long distance transport of boric acid in plants. New Phytol. 84, 231–249.
Rhoades J D 1982 Reclamation and management of salt-affected soils after drainage. Proc. of the First Ann. Western Provincial Conf. Rationalization of Water and Soil Res. and Management. Lethbridge, Alberta,Canada, Nov. 29-Dec. 2.
Sairam R K and Saxena D C 2000 Oxidative stress and antioxidants in wheat genotypes: possible mechanism of water stress tolerance. J. Agron. Crop Sci. 184, 55–61.
Sairam R K, Deshmukh P S and Saxena D C 1998 Role of antioxidant systems in wheat genotypes tolerance to water stress. Biologia Plantarum. 41, 387–394.
Shu Z H, Wu W Y J and Oberly G H 1991 Boron uptake by peach leaves slices. J. Plant Nutr. 14, 867–881.
Wolf B 1974 Improvements in the Azomethine-H method for the determination of boron. Comm. Soil Sci. Plant Anal. 5, 39–44.
Yan B, Dai Q, Liu X, Huang S and Wang Z 1996 Floodinginduced membrane damage, lipid oxidation and activated oxygen generation in corn leaves. Plant Soil 179, 261–268.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alpaslan, M., Gunes, A. Interactive effects of boron and salinity stress on the growth, membrane permeability and mineral composition of tomato and cucumber plants. Plant and Soil 236, 123–128 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011931831273
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1011931831273