Variability in morpho-biochemical, photosynthetic pigmentation, enzymatic and quality attributes of potato for salinity stress tolerance

Hongyang Wang; Junhua Li; Hao Liu; Shengnan Chen; Qamar Uz Zaman; Muzammal Rehman; Khaled El-Kahtany; Shah Fahad; Gang Deng; Jing Yang

doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.108036

Variability in morpho-biochemical, photosynthetic pigmentation, enzymatic and quality attributes of potato for salinity stress tolerance

Plant Physiol Biochem. 2023 Oct:203:108036. doi: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.108036. Epub 2023 Sep 18.

Authors

Hongyang Wang¹, Junhua Li², Hao Liu², Shengnan Chen¹, Qamar Uz Zaman³, Muzammal Rehman⁴, Khaled El-Kahtany⁵, Shah Fahad⁶, Gang Deng⁷, Jing Yang⁸

Affiliations

¹ Yunnan Key Laboratory of Potato Biology, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500, China.
² School of Agriculture, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan 650504, China.
³ Department of Environmental Sciences, The University of Lahore, Lahore 54590, Pakistan.
⁴ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Agro-environment and Agric-products Safety, Key Laboratory of Plant Genetics and Breeding, College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
⁵ Geology and Geophysics Department, College of Science, King Saud University, PO Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Geology and Geophysics Department, College of Science, King Saud University, PO Box 2455, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia; Department of Agronomy, Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 23200, Pakistan. Electronic address: shah_fahad80@yahoo.com.
⁷ School of Agriculture, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan 650504, China. Electronic address: denggang1986@ynu.edu.cn.
⁸ Yunnan Key Laboratory of Potato Biology, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500, China. Electronic address: 15989091552@163.com.

PMID: 37738866
DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.108036

Abstract

Salt stress has emerged as a growing global concern, exerting a significant impact on agricultural productivity. The challenges of salt stress on potatoes are crucial for ensuring food security and sustainable agriculture. To address this issue a pot trial was executed to evaluate the impacts of NaCl in the soil on the growth, photosynthetic pigments, and quality attributes of potato, plants were grown in soil spiked with various concentrations of NaCl (0, 1, 3, 5, 7 g kg^-1 of soil). Results revealed that salt stress have negative impacts on the growth, biomass, photosynthesis and quality attributes of potato. Lower level of salt stress 1 g kg^-1 of soil improved the fresh and dry biomass of leaves (78.70 and 47.74%) and tubers (86.04 and 88.92%) as compared to control, respectively. Higher levels of salt stress (7 g kg^-1) increased lipid peroxidation in leaves and improved the enzymatic antioxidants. It was observed that enzyme activities i.e., SOD (134.97%), POD (101.02%), and CAT (28.87%) increased in leaves and are inversely related to the NaCl concentration. The combination of reduction in chlorophyll contents and soluble sugars resulted in lower levels of quality attributes i.e., amylose (68.90%) and amylopectin (16.70%) of potato. Linear relationship in growth, biomass and physiological attributes showed the strong association with increased salt stress. Furthermore, the PCA-heatmap synergy offers identifying clusters of co-regulated attributes, which pinpoint the physiological responses that exhibit the strongest correlation with increasing salt stress levels. Findings indicate that potato can be grown successfully with (1 g kg^-1 of NaCl in soil) without negative impacts on plant quality. Furthermore, this study contributes valuable insights into the complexities of salt stress on potato plants and provides a foundation for developing strategies to enhance their resilience in salt-affected environments.

Keywords: Enzymatic attributes; Growth; Potato; Quality; Salt stress; Tubers.