Effect of salt stress on some physiological and biochemical aspects of Henbane (Hyoscyamus reticulatus L.)

Plants deal with various stresses like salt stress in their life. Henbane is one of the important plants of potato family with numerous pharmaceutical effects. To assess the effects of salinity on growth responses of Henbane plant, experiment performed in growth chamber as pot culture based on a randomized complete design (CRD) with three replications. Seed germination percentage has been studied in salinity levels as 0, 5, 10 and 15 dS m-1 NaCl. After seed germination and transferring the seedlings to the pot media in 16 hours light and 8 hours darkness, salinity in four levels as 2.9 (control without salt), 5, 10 and 15 dS m-1 has been treated.  Two weeks after stress treatment, features including factors of seed germination, root fresh and dry weight, aerial organ fresh and dry weight, organs length, leaf RWC, plant element content, proline, soluble sugars, photosynthetic pigments, total protein and alkaloid content have been measured. Statistical analyses have been carried out with SAS software ver. 9.1. The results of this research showed that some parameters including percentage and rate of seed germination, hypocotyle and radicle fresh and dry weight, root fresh and dry weight, aerial organs length, leaf RWC, root and aerial organs K, Mg and Ca content and K/Nain salinity conditions relative to control treatment represented significant decrease. Against, proline, total proteins, alkaloids and Na content relative to control treatment showed significant increase. Soluble sugars and photosynthetic pigments content did not showed significant difference. In conclusion, application of salinity stress resulted in enhanced synthesis of osmolytes such as proline and alkaloids as defensive compounds.