Journal of Stress Physiology & Biochemistry, Vol. 7, No. 4,
2011, pp. 369- 386. ISSN 1997-0838
Original Text Copyright (cc) 2011 by Barakat
Ameliorative effects of Ca 2+ on the growth, metabolism, cationic status and cell wall degrading enzymes of induced salinity stress Vicia faba L.
Nasser A.M. Barakat
Minia University, Faculty of science, Botany and Microbiology Department, Egypt 61519.
E-mail: Nasserbarakat2003@yahoo.com
Received October 19, 2011
Vicia faba L. Plant was grown in a pot experiment to study the positive role of CaCl2
on NaCl induced stress in terms of growth parameters, metabolic, cation
contents and cell wall degrading enzymes in different plant organs. The
salinity treatments were having an osmotic potential of (0.0;
-0.23;-0.46; -0.92 and -1.15 MPa), respectively. A hundred ml of
10 mM CaCl2
were added to the previous concentrations for seven weeks. The data
revealed that, NaCl treatments reduced the growth parameters; which
most sensitive in root than shoot. Organic cytosolutes were much higher
in root than shoot organ except for protein accumulation. The amount of
inorganic cytosolutes (Na+ and Ca++) in general increased markedly in shoot than root and vice versa for K+ and Mg++. CaCl2 treatment alone induces these parameters than control one. Mixed salts of NaCl and CaCl2
positively improve the aforementioned parameters with varying degrees
depending on the organs. While root seems to be the more sensitive
organ for growth parameters measured, it also seems most accumulator
organ than shoot for many metabolites. For the ionic contents, shoot
and root varies between the mono and divalent cations. Cell wall
degrading enzymes significantly and progressively increased as salinity
level of treated plants increased. However, CaCl2
treatments induced a significant reduction in the activity of these
enzymes when compared with their respective NaCl treatments. The
ameliorative percentage due to calcium application of stressed faba
bean on growth parameters ranges from 17.53 to 79.55 %; for metabolites
from 8.69 to 194.91; for ionic status from 9.94 to 56.67 %, and for
cell wall degrading enzymes from 16.76 to 39.15 %. These data leads to
strongly recommend adding CaCl2 to saline environment to decrease the deleterious effects of salinity.
Key words: Vicia faba, growth performance, organic cyto-sloutes,
cations, cell wall degrading enzymes, cellulase, polygalacturnase,
polymethylegalacturnase
