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Responses of Rat Root ( Acorus americanus Raf.) Plants to Salinity and pH Conditions
Author(s) -
CalvoPolanco Monica,
Alejandra Equiza María,
Señorans Jorge,
Zwiazek Janusz J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq2013.07.0266
Subject(s) - salinity , hydroponics , nutrient , chlorophyll , chemistry , biology , horticulture , botany , agronomy , ecology
Growth and physiological parameters were examined in rat root ( Acorus americanus Raf.) plants grown under controlled environment conditions in hydroponics and subjected to different pH and salinity treatments to determine whether these environmental factors may contribute to poor establishment of A. americanus in oil sands constructed wetlands. When A. americanus plants were subjected to a root zone pH ranging from 6.0 to 9.5, the plants that were growing at pH 7.0 showed the highest relative growth rates and chlorophyll concentrations compared with lower and higher pH levels. The greatest inhibition of growth occurred at pH ranging from 8.0 to 9.5. High pH also triggered significant reductions in tissue concentrations of N, P, and microelements, whereas the concentrations of Mg increased at pH >8. When NaCl (25, 50, and 100 mmol L −1 ) was added to the nutrient solution at pH 7.0 and 8.5, higher mortality and greater tissue concentrations of Na and Cl were measured in plants growing at pH 8.5 compared with pH 7.0. The results show that A. americanus plants growing at the optimum pH of 7.0 can better tolerate salinity compared with plants exposed to high root zone pH. Both pH and salinity may present important environmental constraints to growth and establishment of A. americanus plants in oil sands constructed wetlands.