Physiological homeostasis for ecological success of Typha (Typha domingensis Pers.) populations in saline soils

Noreen Akhter; Muhammad Aqeel; Muhammad Muslim Shahnaz; Ghalia S H Alnusairi; Suliman Mohammed Alghanem; Abida Kousar; Mohamed Hashem; Hina Kanwal; Saad Alamri; Aisha Ilyas; Omar Mahmoud Al-Zoubi; Ali Noman

doi:10.1007/s12298-021-00963-x

Physiological homeostasis for ecological success of Typha (Typha domingensis Pers.) populations in saline soils

Physiol Mol Biol Plants. 2021 Apr;27(4):687-701. doi: 10.1007/s12298-021-00963-x. Epub 2021 Mar 24.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Botany, Government College Women University, Faisalabad, 38000 Pakistan.
² State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000 People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Botany, Government Post Graduate College of Science, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Botany, Government College University, Faisalabad, 38000 Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Biology, College of Sciences, Jouf University, Sakaka, 2014 Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Tabuk University, Tabuk, 71491 Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Biology, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha, 61413 Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, 71516 Egypt.
⁹ Department of Biology, Faculty of Science in Yanbu, Taibah University, Medina, Saudi Arabia.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The natural capacity of plants to endure salt stress is largely regulated by multifaceted structural and physio-biochemical modulations. Salt toxicity endurance mechanism of six ecotypes of Typha domingensis Pers. was evaluated by analyzing photosynthesis, ionic homeostasis, and stomatal physiology under different levels of salinity (0, 100, 200 and 300 mM NaCl). Typha populations were collected across different areas of Punjab, an eastern province in Pakistan. All studied attributes among ecotypes presented differential changes as compared to control. Different salt treatments not only affected gas exchange attributes but also shown significant modifications in stomatal anatomical changes. As compared to control, net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, total chlorophyll contents and carotenoids were increased by 111%, 64%, 103% and 171% respectively, in Sahianwala ecotype among all other ecotypes. Similarly, maximum water use efficiency (WUE), sub stomatal CO₂ concentration, sodium (Na⁺) and chloride (Cl^-) contents were observed in Sahianwala (191%, 93%, 168%, 158%) and Knotti (162%, 75%, 146%, 182%) respectively, as compared to the others ecotypes. Adaxial and abaxial stomatal areas remained stable in Sahianwala and Knotti. The highest abaxial stomatal density was observed in Gatwala ecotype (42 mm²) and maximum adaxial stomatal density was recorded in Sahianwala ecotype (43 mm²) at 300 mM NaCl salinity. The current study showed that Typha ecotypes responded varyingly to salinity in terms of photosynthesis attributes to avoid damages due to salinity. Overall, differential photosynthetic activity, WUE, and changes in stomatal attributes of Sahianwala and Knotti ecotypes contributed more prominently in tolerating salinity stress. Therefore, Typha domingensis is a potential species to be used to rehabilitate salt affected lands for agriculture and aquatic habitat.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-021-00963-x.

Keywords: Stomatal regulation; Structural modifications; Transpiration rate; Typha populations; Water-use efficiency.