Investigation of Germination Characteristics of Four Medicinal Plants Seed (Lavender, Hyssop, Black cumin and Scrophularia) Under Interaction Between Salinity Stress and Temperature Levels

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

2 Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

Abstract

Medicinal plants are stores of active and valuable secondary metabolites that have been economically beneficial for pharmacy and medicine. However, it is challenging to start large-scale and commercial cultivation of these plants since most of the arable land is mainly used to produce strategically essential crops. Other uncultivable lands are often affected by various abiotic stresses, one of the most important of which is salinity. Germination of plants is one of the critical stages during their growth period that is often affected by environmental stresses, especially salinity. In the present study, the seeds of medicinal plants such as Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis), Black cumin (Nigella sativa L.), and Scrophularia (Scrophularia striata) were subjected to salinity stress at 20, 25, and 30 °C to determine the germination characteristics of their seeds. At each temperature, to create salinity stress, five levels of salinity potential, including 0, 50, 100, 150, and 200 mM NaCl were applied, prepared using sodium chloride salt with the required amounts. The results of this experiment generally showed that with increasing salinity concentration at different temperatures, all germination characteristics, including germination percentage, germination rate, shoot length, root length, shoot dry weight, dry root weight, and seed vigor index, decreased. Salinity stress is one of the most important abiotic stresses in areas with saline soil and water, which reduces the quality and yield of plants, especially medicinal plants, and weakens them against other environmental stresses. It seems that low salinity soil and water are needed to get the best yield for the commercial growth of plants.

Keywords

References

Abd EL-Azim WM, Ahmed ST. 2009. Effect of salinity and cutting date on growth and chemical constituents of Achillea fragratissima Forssk, under Ras Sudr conditions. Res J Agr Biol Sci 5(6): 1121-1129.
Abd El-Wahab MA. 2006. The efficiency of using saline and fresh water irrigation as alternating methods of irrigation on the productivity of Foeniculum vulgare Mill subsp. vulgare var. vulgare under North Sinai conditions. Res J Agr Biol Sci 2(6): 571-577.
Ahmad P. 2010. Growth and antioxidant responses in mustard (Brassica juncea L.) plants subjected to combined effect of gibberellic acid and salinity. Arch Agron Soil Sci 56(5): 575-588.
Ali EF, Bazaid S, Hassan FAS. 2013. Salt effects on growth and leaf chemical constituents of Simmondsia chinensis (Link) schneider. J Med Plants Stud 1(3): 22-24.
Ali RM, Abbas HM, Kamal RK. 2007. The effects of treatment with polyamines on dry matter, oil and flavonoid contents in salinity stressed chamomile and sweet marjoram. Plant Soil Environ 53(12): 529.
Apel K, Hirt H. 2004. Reactive oxygen species: metabolism, oxidative stress, and signal transduction. Annu Rev Plant Biol 55: 373-399.
Ashraf M, Waheed A. 1990. Screening of local/exotic accessions of lentil (Lens culinaris Medic.) for salt tolerance at two growth stages. Plant Soil 128(2): 167-176.
Aziz EE, Al-Amier H, Craker LE. 2008. Influence of salt stress on growth and essential oil production in peppermint, pennyroyal, and apple mint. J Herbs Spices Med Plants 14(1-2): 77-87.
Banerjee A, Roychoudhury A. 2016. Group II late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins: structural and functional aspects in plant abiotic stress. Plant Growth Regul 79(1): 1-17.
Belaqziz R, Romane A, Abbad A. 2009. Salt stress effects on germination, growth and essential oil content of an endemic thyme species in Morocco (Thymus maroccanus Ball.). J Appl Sci Res 858-863.
Bewley JD, Bradford KJ, Hilhorst HW, Nonogaki H. 2013. Seeds: physiology of development and germination. Springer Science and Business Media.
Booroomand Zade Z, Koochaki A. 2005. Ermination response of Ajowan, Fennel and Dill to osmotic potential of sodium chloride and polyethylene glycol 6000 in different temperature regimes. Iran J Field Crop Res 3(2): 207-218.
Chew AL, Jessica JJA, Sasidharan S. 2012. Antioxidant and antibacterial activity of different parts of Leucas aspera. Asian Pac J Trop Biomed 2(3): 176-180.
Cristaudo A, Catara S, Mingo A, Restuccia A, Onofri A. 2019. Temperature and storage time strongly affect the germination success of perennial Euphorbia species in Mediterranean regions. Ecol Evol 9(19): 10984-10999.
Cristaudo A, Gresta F, Restuccia A, Catara S, Onofri A. 2016. Germinative response of redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.) to environmental conditions: is there a seasonal pattern? Plant Biosystems 150(3): 583-591.
Dadkhah A. 2010. Salinity effect on germination and seedling growth of four medicinal plants. Iran J Med Aromat Plants 26(3): 358-369.
Ellis RH, Roberts EH. 1981. The quantification of ageing and survival in orthodox seeds. Seed Sci Techol 9: 373-409.
Fallahi HR, Mohammadi M, Aghhavani-Shajari M, Ranjbar F. 2015. Determination of germination cardinal temperatures in two basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) cultivars using non-linear regression models. J Appl Res Med Aromat Plants 2(4): 140-145.
Flowers TJ. 2004. Improving crop salt tolerance. J Exp Bot 55(396): 307-319.
Geshnizjani N, Ghaderi-Far F, Willems LA, Hilhorst HW, Ligterink W. 2018. Characterization of and genetic variation for tomato seed thermo-inhibition and thermo-dormancy. BMC Plant Biol 18(1): 1-12.
Ghanavati M, Sengul S. 2010. Salinity effect on the germination and some chemical components of matricaria spp. Asian J Chem 22(2): 859-866.
Ghoulam C, Fares K. 2001. Effect of salinity on seed germination and early seedling growth of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.). Seed Sci Techol 29(2): 357-364.
Gresta F, Cristaudo A, Onofri A, Restuccia A, Avola G. 2010. Germination response of four pasture species to temperature, light, and post-harvest period. Plant Biosyst 144(4): 849-856.
Gul B, Weber DJ. 1999. Effect of salinity, light, and temperature on germination in Allenrolfea occidentalis. Can J Bot 77(2): 240-246.
Gulzar S, Khan MA. 2001. Seed germination of a halophytic grass Aeluropus lagopoides. Annal Bot 87(3): 319-324.
Gulzar S, Khan MA, Ungar IA. 2001. Effect of salinity and temperature on the germination of Urochondra setulosa (Trin.) CE Hubbard. Seed Sci Techol 29(1): 21-30.
Guo C, Shen Y, Shi F. 2020. Effect of temperature, light, and storage time on the seed germination of Pinus bungeana Zucc. ex Endl.: the role of seed-covering layers and abscisic acid changes. Forests 11(3): 300. doi:10.3390/f11030300.
Gupta B, Huang B. 2014. Mechanism of salinity tolerance in plants: physiological, biochemical, and molecular characterization. Int J Genomics. 2014:701596. doi: 10.1155/2014/701596.
Hartmann HT, Kester DE. 2014. Plant propagation: principles and practices (8th ed.). Pearson.
Huo H, Dahal P, Kunusoth K, McCallum CM, Bradford KJ. 2013. Expression of 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase4 is essential for thermoinhibition of lettuce seed germination but not for seed development or stress tolerance. Plant Cell 25(3): 884-900.
ISTA Z. 1999. International rules for seed testing. Seed Sci Technol 27(Suppl): 1-333.
Johnson OO, Ayoola GA. 2015. Antioxidant activity among selected medicinal plants combinations (multi-component herbal preparation). Int J Res Health Sci 3(1): 526-532.
Karagöz A, Artun FT, Özcan G, Melikoğlu G, Anıl S, Kültür Ş, Sütlüpınar N. 2015. In vitro evaluation of antioxidant activity of some plant methanol extracts. Biotechnol Biotechnol Equip 29(6): 1184-1189.
Kermode AR. 1990. Regulatory mechanisms involved in the transition from seed development to germination. Crit Rev Plant Sci 9(2): 155-195.
Khan MA. 2002. Halophyte seed germination: success and pitfalls. International Symposium on Optimum resource utilization in salt affected ecosystems in Arid and semi-arid regions, 346-358.
Laghmouchi Y, Belmehdi O, Bouyahya A, Senhaji NS, Abrini J. 2017. Effect of temperature, salt stress and pH on seed germination of medicinal plant Origanum compactum. Biocatal Agric Biotechnol 10: 156-160.
Mahajan S, Tuteja N. 2005. Cold, salinity and drought stresses: an overview. Arch Biochem Biophys 444(2): 139-158.
Miceli A, Moncada A, D’Anna F. 2003. Effect of water salinity on seeds-germination of Ocimum basilicum L., Eruca sativa L. and Petroselinum hortense Hoffm. International Symposium on Managing Ggreenhouse Crops in Saline Eenvironment 609: 365-370.
Muhammad Z, Hussain F. 2010. Effect of NaCl salinity on the germination and seedling growth of some medicinal plants. Pak J Bot 42(2): 889-897.
Munns, R. (2005). Genes and salt tolerance: bringing them together. New Phytologist 167(3), 645-663.
Munns R, Tester M. 2008. Mechanisms of salinity tolerance. Annu Rev Plant Biol 59: 651-681.
Nejatzadeh F. (2021). Effect of silver nanoparticles on salt tolerance of Satureja hortensis L. during in vitro and in vivo germination tests. Heliyon 7(2): e05981.
Novak J, Blüthner WD. 2020. Medicinal, aromatic and stimulant plants. Springer.
Oueslati S, Karray-Bouraoui N, Attia H, Rabhi M, Ksouri R, Lachaal M. 2010. Physiological and antioxidant responses of Mentha pulegium (Pennyroyal) to salt stress. Acta Physiol Plant 32(2): 289-296.
Ramin AA. 2006. Effects of salinity and temperature on germination and seedling establishment of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.). J Herbs Spices Med Plants 11(4): 81-90.
Said-Al Ahl HAH, Omer EA. 2011. Medicinal and aromatic plants production under salt stress. a review. Herba Polonica 57(2): 72-87.
Sedghi M, Nemati A, Esmaielpour B. 2010. Effect of seed priming on germination and seedling growth of two medicinal plants under salinity. Emir J Food Agric 22(2): 130-139.
Taiz L, Zeiger E, Møller IM, Murphy A. 2015. Plant physiology and development (No. Ed. 6). Sinauer Associates Incorporated.
Thirumurugan K, Shihabudeen MS, Hansi PD. 2010. Antimicrobial activity and phytochemical analysis of selected Indian folk medicinal plants. Steroids 1(7): 430-434.
Tolyat MA, Afshari RT, Jahansoz MR, Nadjafi F, Naghdibadi HA. 2014. Determination of cardinal germination temperatures of two ecotypes of Thymus daenensis subsp. daenensis. Seed Sci Technol 42(1): 28-35.
Uddin G, Rauf A. 2012. Phytochemical screening and biological activity of the aerial parts of Elaeagnus umbellata. Sci Res Essays 7(43): 3690-3694.
Ungar IA. 2017. Seed germination and seed-bank ecology in halophytes. In Seed development and germination (pp. 599-628). Routledge.
Vicente MJ, Martínez-Díaz E, Martínez-Sánchez JJ, Franco JA, Bañón S, Conesa E. 2020. Effect of light, temperature, and salinity and drought stresses on seed germination of Hypericum ericoides, a wild plant with ornamental potential. Sci Horti 270: 109433.
Zhang JL, Shi H. 2013. Physiological and molecular mechanisms of plant salt tolerance. Photosynth Res 115(1): 1-22.
Journal of Genetic Resources
Volume 8, Issue 1
2022
Pages 35-45

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics