Open Access

ARTICLE

Physiological Responses of Pea Plants to Salinity and Gibberellic Acid

Houneida Attia^1,2,*

1 Department of Biology, College of Science, Taif University, Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia
2 Laboratoire Productivité Végétale et Contraintes Environnementales, Département des Sciences Biologiques, Faculté des Sciences de Tunis, Université Tunis El Manar, Tunis, 2092, Tunisia

* Corresponding Author: Houneida Attia. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Integrating Agronomy and Plant Physiology for Improving Crop Production)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2023, 92(1), 149-164. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.022363

Received 06 March 2022; Accepted 12 May 2022; Issue published 06 September 2022 Retracted 26 December 2023

Abstract

Pea is a seed legume. It is rich in cellulose fibre and protein. It is also a significant source of minerals and vitamins. In this paper, we set out to better characterize the physiological responses of Pisum sativum L. to the combined effects of NaCl, 100 mM and gibberellins (GA3). Our analysis revealed that NaCl caused a decrease in growth resulting in a reduction in root elongation, distribution and density, leaf number and leaf area, and a decrease in dry matter of roots and shoots. However, the contribution of GA3 in the salty environment induced an increase in these different parameters suggesting an improving effect of this hormone on growth of pea in presence of salt. NaCl also led to a disturbance of the photosynthetic machinery. Indeed, level of chlorophyll pigments (a and total) and photosynthetic activity were decreased compared to the control plants. However, the exogenous supply of GA3 restored this decrease in net CO₂ assimilation, but not in chlorophyll content. Additional analyses were performed on the effect of salinity/GA3 interaction on osmolytes (soluble sugars and starch). Our results showed an increase in sugars and a decrease in starch in the presence of 100 mM NaCl. The salt-GA3 combination resulted in compensation of soluble sugar contents but not of starch contents, suggesting a beneficial effect of GA3 under saline stress conditions. Level of three main polyamines putrescine, spermidine, and spermine increased significantly in all organs of salt-treated plants.

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