Effects of Salinity on Seed Germination and Biochemical Properties of Salsola crassa Seedlings

Salsola crassa is a perennial halophytic shrublet, commonly grow in saline habitats as well as on sand dunes of Urmia Lake region. Salsola crassa has many uses such as: fuel wood, medicinal uses, forages and fodders. High soil salinity is one of the inhibiting factors that affects forage production in rangelands, so that salinity is the main barrier for seed germination . Therefore, in this study, the effect of different levels of salinity (0, 200, 400 and 600 mM) on the germination traits and phenolic, anthocyanin, flavonoids, malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide content in Salsola crassa were investigated. A factorial experiment with a randomized complete block design including three replicates was conducted. The results showed that phenolic, anthocyanin and flavonoids contents increased under salinity stress (P˂0.05). Salinity levels showed different effects on hydrogen peroxide content, so that the lowest and highest hydrogen peroxide were observed in control and 400 mM plants, respectively. Malondialdehyde content of the seedlings was not significantly affected by salt stress in 600 mM, while 200 and 400 mM treatments showed a high concentration of malondialdehyde rather than control plants. There was a significant positive correlation (P0.84) between hydrogen peroxide content and anthocyanin, phenols and flavonoids contents of the seedlings. The overall results suggest that Salsola crassa seedling has a strong antioxidant system which can effectively scavenge reactive oxygen species in high salinity conditions.