Screening for Salt Tolerance in Chenopodium quinoa Genotype Seedlings through Germination in a Hydroponic System
Sirpaul Jaikishun *
College of Life Sciences and Fujian Provincial, Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China and FAFU-UCR, Joint Center for Horticultural Biology and Metabolomics, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China and Department of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Guyana, Guyana.
Shikui Song *
College of Life Sciences and Fujian Provincial, Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China and FAFU-UCR, Joint Center for Horticultural Biology and Metabolomics, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China.
Zhenbiao Yang
College of Life Sciences and Fujian Provincial, Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China and FAFU-UCR, Joint Center for Horticultural Biology and Metabolomics, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China and Institute of Integrative Genome Biology and Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is poised to be a global life changer with its ability to adapt to a wide range of abiotic stresses and as a highly nutritious and sustainable food source. A trial on screening of salt tolerance was conducted at the germination and seedling stages of 69 quinoa genotypes in different concentrations of NaCl 0 (CK), 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 mM for 21 days in the MS/2 mixture. This results in 16 genotypes with >50% germination at 400 mM NaCl. These were reassessed in germination indices and relative growth. Results indicated that Chadmo had the highest germinability of 97% and 32.76% relative height among the 16 genotypes. Considering the germination indices, Chadmo had significantly different values (3.05±0.19 day-1) in mean germination time, coefficient of variation of the germination time (38.76±1.97%), the velocity of germination (0.23±0.01 day-1), the uncertainty of germination (0.54±0.08 bit), synchrony of germination (0.42±0.05 and Timson’s index (48.89) with significant differences (P<0.05) among the genotypes. Moreover, Chadmo had the highest membrane stability index (MSI) (60.03±11.84) at 400 mM NaCl and the least relative change between the CK and 400 mM NaCl with 30.87±2.01%. Assessing the stress inhibitory effect of the 16 genotypes, Chadmo had the least relative difference between the CK and 400 mM NaCl with shoot length of 34.34%, root length of 25.57%, fresh weight of 22.05%, dry weight of 3.62% and moisture content of 1.99% with Tukey analyses identifying significant differences (p<0.05). To select the salt-sensitive genotype, an assessment was done on five genotypes that exhibited the least germination at 200 mM NaCl. Kankolla had the least germinability with 12 and 4% at 100 and 200 mM NaCl, respectively. Considering all these parameters, Chadmo and Kankolla were selected as salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive for further analyses.
Keywords: Propagation, quinoa, moisture, NaCl, salt-sensitive, salt-tolerant, salinity