Title of article :
Calcium application mitigates salt stress in Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) offshoots cultivars of Berhi and Sayer
Author/Authors :
jasim, abbas m. university of basrah - college of agriculture - department of horticulture and landscape design, Iraq , abbas, muayed f. university of basrah - college of agriculture - department of horticulture and landscape design, Iraq , shareef, hussein j. university of basrah - date palm research centre - department of date palm varieties, Iraq
Abstract :
The effectiveness of exogenous application of calcium in ameliorating the adverse effects of salt stress (15.9 dS m^-1) on date palm offshoots (Phoenix dactylifera L. cultivars of Berhi and Sayer) was investigated. Ca-fertilisers Polixal and Rexene were applied either as soil amendments or foliar spray. The results showed that Polixal at 30 ml offshoot^-1 significantly increased plant height, leaf area, total chlorophyll content, RWC, proline concentration, peroxidase activity, IAA content, K^+ and K^+/Na^+ ratio in leaves of Berhi cultivar, whereas catalase activity, ABA and Cl- content were decreased. Also Berhi cultivar responded to soil amendments more than to foliar spray. However, Ca-fertilisers mitigated salt stress in the two cultivars and Berhi cultivar was more salt stress tolerant than Sayer cultivar by maintaining the high ratio of K^+/Na^+ and regulating levels of IAA to ABA, in silty clay loam soil. These results suggest that calcium application can improve the defense system under salt stress conditions.
Keywords :
antioxidant enzymes , Date Palm , salt stress , IAA , ABA , calcium application , proline , RWC
Journal title :
Acta agriculturae Slovenica
Journal title :
Acta agriculturae Slovenica
