Effects of soil salinity on plant growth in Nutrient

Uptake level
Dingyi Chen, Christopher Franz, Benjamin Larson, Nicolette Neumann,
Taylor Paddock
Introduction
Soil salinity can defined as salt
highly accumulated in the soil,
usually to a toxic level to the
plants. It has recently been the
worldwide problem, since 20% of
total cultivated and 33% of
irrigated agricultural lands in the
world are affected by high salinity.
1
Usually it occurs in arid and
semi-arid area. Unbalance of
evaporation and precipitation in
those areas make water table
drops down and soluble salt in the
water remains in the soil. After for
a long time the salt spread out
almost all area. Other factors,
such as weathering of rocks,
irrigation with saline water, and
heavy reliance on fertilizer as can
be
considered
as
reasons2.
Accumulation of salt in soil causes
osmotic effect so that plants
dehydrate
and
finally
died.
Dehydration is not only the
reason plants die from soil
salinity. Nitrogen deficiency by
Nutrient uptake antagonism is
also another main reason. Excess
content of Chloride uptake from
salinity soil will limit the uptake of
nitrate3. Competition between Cland NO3- usually results in the
prevalence of Cl- in the maize4,
blocking the uptake of Nitrogen.
To better understand how
different salinity level of soil
afflicts nitrogen intake in plant
growth, we decide to use plant Z.
mays, i.e. Maize as a model plant.
We proposed two questions in our
study:
What is the difference of
Nitrogen Uptake on salinity stress

in maize?
Does increasing salt stress
undermine
the
Nitrogen
absorption in maize?
Material and Methods
The reason we choose to use
maize in this study is for its fast
growth and easy cultivation. The
maize
were
grown
in
the
temperature and light controlled
greenhouse in Center for Urban
Horticulture,
University
of
Washington.
Since it is difficult to directly
measure the Nitrogen absorption
in soil, we can use these two
methods to assume the result:
measuring
chlorophyll
content by SPAD Meter
measuring
the
rate
of
photosynthesis (A) by Li-COR and
making a graph like A/Ci Curve.
Nitrogen plays an important
role
in
photosynthesis.
Chlorophyll, one of the main
components in chloroplast, has
Nitrogen in its structure.5 When
the plant lacks of Nitrogen, plants
cannot
synthesize
chlorophyll
they need. Rubisco, an enzyme in
the Calvin Cycle taking part in the
process
of
photosynthesis,
contains huge amount of amino
acid.
If
there
is
Nitrogen
deficiency in plants, the nitrogen
investment can also decline in
Rubisco. The activity of Rubisco
then decrease and affect the
progress of Calvin cycle.
Measuring SPAD and A can
know the growth and health, but
the influx of Nitrogen to maize as

well.

comparison, we also put the 4L

clean water aside and observe
weekly
evaporation
by
subtracting the initial volume of
water from the volume of water
after 7 days. We select marked 10
cm long in the center of one
mature leaf from each sample to
observe how the plants grow.
Once a week we measure the
marked length and record the
new data. We are trying to know
how plants grow during the week.

Just like A/Ci Curve which

portraits the relationship between
concentration of Carbon Dioxide
to the Rate of Photosynthesis (Or
called as the Rate of Assimilation,
A), we hope we can make the
similar
graph
telling
the
relationship
between
concentration of NaCl to the rate
of photosynthesis. We predict that
as salinity increases, the rate of
assimilation
from
maize
decreases. And we also assume
To see how soil salinity effect
that as the salt stress goes
coil
more clearly, we decide to
longer, the whole curve will shift
measure SPAD value from the top,
downwards.
the middle and the lower leaf in
In order to simulate a good
the sample. The leaf we measure
environment,
we
made
salt
should be on the same side to get
solution into 3 different levels: no
more
precise
value.
When
salt (0mMol) for control, 100mMol
measuring
the
leaf,
try
to
and 200 mMol (See Table 1). We
measure the top and the center
put three samples into each
part 4~5 times, take average and
group. We set initial volume of
then record. Since the end of leaf
solution as 4L for simplified
has just grown, it may contain
calculation. We change water
less Nitrogen and cause error in
once a week to calculate volume
the result.
corn
absorbs
water.
For
Salinity Conditions
Plant number NaCl Amount
Solution
Treatment
Amount
1, 2, 3
0 (For Control)
4L
4 L/week for 4
weeks
4, 5, 6
100mMol
4L
4 L/week for 4
weeks
7, 8, 9
200mMol
4L
4 L/week for 4
weeks
Measurements
Variables
Chlorophyll content
Photosynthesis
Leaf Length

Method
SPAD meter
Li-COR
Manual Measure

Frequency
1/wk
1/wk
1/wk

Table 1. Treatment and Measurement in our experiment

Results and Observations
Through
four
weeks
observation, we found that all
leaves fluctuated between 9.6cm
to 10.8 cm. For the last
observation, we found that most

leaves from maize were died.

When we took average of SPAD
value from all three plants in each
treatment, then compared with
the duration of salt stress (unit as
weeks),
we
found
some

interesting facts (See Figure 1).

Here we use linear regression
instead of bar chart, since the
SPAD value are so closed that
there may hardly see the
significant difference between the
control and the treated groups.
We
found
that
since
the
coefficient of determination (R^2)
100mMol treated group, there is
significant difference than that in
control
group
(P-value
=
0.01<0.05). It tells that in 100mM
salt environment, the average
chlorophyll number decreases as
the duration of salt stress
continues. Since the R^2 value
for both trend line of control

in 200mMol treated group is less

than 0.5( R^2 = 0.0332), we can
tell that there is no linear
association between the duration
of salt stress to the average
chlorophyll number when the
salinity is 50mMol/L (200mMol / 4
L = 50mMol/L). But for the
the
group and 100mM treated group
are above 0.50, we can say that
there is a strong linear association
between the duration of salt
stress to the average chlorophyll
number.

Figure. 1 Average of SPAD Value from maize in each group. SPAD

reading is approximate for average chlorophyll number. Some part of data
for in 200mM group is missed. The solid lines are the trend lines for the
points.
In Salt Concentration Curve, only
curve for Mar.2 accorded with the
expected prediction. All other
three curves get the opposite
result. On Feb.11 and Feb.23, the
average rate of Assimilation Rate
didnt go down in the higher salt

concentration environment, to the

opposite way, it went a little bit
higher. On Feb. 18, the average
rates of assimilation are almost
the same when the salinity is
25mMol/L and 50 mMol/L See
Figure 2.

Figure. 2 Salt Concentration Curve. We took average Assimilation Rate

for all three maize in each treatment. Note that except data from Feb.18
were estimated in the afternoon (2:00 pm), all other data were measured
in the morning (8:00 am).
Conclusion
We can concluded SPAD value
decreases evidently in lower salt
treated plants, but unclear under
higher salt stress. Also there is
only one significant part telling
the expected pattern of the Salt
Concentration curve showing its
descending in ascending salt
pressure. That means there are
not enough evidence to say
increasing salt stress undermine
the Nitrogen absorption in corn.
Although we can assume, based
on the SPAD Value in lower salt
treated group, that chlorophyll
may decrease due to the uptake
of salt, the Salt Concentration
Curve contradicts the result.
There are several reasons we may
got
the
error
form
the
experiment: First is that we do not
have enough data points. Due to
the tight schedule, we only
measure in the ruled time,

therefore we skip some part of

measurement to save time.
Operation error may also be the
reason, since the operator for
measuring
Assimilation
Rate
changed in every week. Other one
is that the salt concentration is so
low that it cannot make high
molarity to maize and cause
significant difference between
groups.
Week
2
LI-6400
measurement taken at 2:00 PM
rather than 8:00 AM is the
potential
reason.
The
measurement time is nearly noon
so the figure may get larger than
that in the morning. To make
more precisely, we can put two
kinds of salt in the treatment,
NaCl and NaNO3 so that it may
clearly show the difference.
Nowadays, soil salinity has
become
important
since
its
potential economic and food
impact on the whole world may

influence
the
national
and
regional security. This field will be

continuously focused on in the

next decades.

Reference
[1] Pooja S. et al. 2014. Soil salinity: A serious environmental issue and
plant growth promoting bacteria as one of the tools for its alleviation
Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences
[2] Owens, S 2001. Salt of the Earth: Genetic engineering may help to
reclaim agricultural land lost due to salinisation EMBO Reports
[3] http://www.smart-fertilizer.com/articles/soil-salinity
[4] Mohammad Pessarakli et al. 1999. Handbook of Plant and Crop Stress,
Second Edition.
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorophyll