Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 Assistant Professor , Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran
2 Student of Horticultural Science Engineering, Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction: Artemisia dracunculus L. is a fragrant and durable plant that is used as a flavoring vegetable in many countries. This plant is widely used in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and health industries. The medicinal value of this plant is due to the presence of essential oil, phenolic and flavonoid compounds, phenolic acids, coumarin, and alkaloids. In the last decade, due to climatic changes, salinity stress has become one of the most important biological problems, which causes a decrease in plant productivity. Salinity stress, by creating water and ionic imbalance, causes dryness and increases the concentration of vacuolar sap. Creating ionic toxicity and ionic competition in the cell membrane as a result of salt stress causes programmed cell death. Therefore, it is important to find solutions to overcome or reduce the effects of salinity stress on plants. Biochar is an organic carbon compound that can affect the physicochemical structure of the soil. Biochar, by increasing the absorption of nutrients, increasing the cationic exchanging capacity, and water holding capacity in the soil, improves the soil structure, and increases the plant access to the soil nutrients, and in this way helps to increase the yield of the plant.
Materials and Methods: To investigate the effects of soil-based biochar (zero, 7, and 14% v) application and, water salinity stress (zero, 75, and 150 mM) on the growth and some physiological traits of Artemisia dracunculus L.; a factorial experiment was conducted based on the completely randomized design with three replications during 2022-2023 in Research Greenhouse of Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University.
Results and Discussion: Plant height, aerial part dry weight, chlorophyll a, hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde, proline, sodium, and potassium content were influenced by the interaction effects of experimental treatments. The treatments without salinity stress and 75 mM NaCl salinity stress with the application of 14% (v) biochar caused an increase in the plant height and aerial part dry weight of the plant. The highest content of chlorophyll a was obtained in the treatment without salinity stress with both levels of biochar and 75 mM NaCl salinity stress with the application of 14% (v) of biochar. The salinity stress )150 mM( in the condition of not using biochar increased the content of hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde and sodium content (35 mg g-1 DW) of the plant. The highest proline content was observed in 150 mM salinity stress with both levels of biochar application and non-application. The highest potassium content was obtained in the treatment without salinity stress with the application of 14% (v) of biochar, which showed a 71% increase compared to the control. The potassium-to-sodium ratio was affected by the main effect of biochar, and the use of 7 and 14% biochar, increased the potassium-to-sodium ratio of the plant. The independent effects of salinity and biochar stress affected leaf relative water content, essential oil, chlorophyll b, and carotenoid content. Seven and 14% biochar treatments increased the chlorophyll b content compared to the control. Application of 14% biochar increased the relative water content of leaves (17% increase compared to the control), and carotenoids. By increasing the salinity stress to 150 mM, the leaf-relative water content decreased by 22% compared to the control, and the highest leaf-relative water content was observed in the control. Both 75 and 150 mM salinity stress treatments increased carotenoid content. The highest content of essential oil was observed in 14% (v) of biochar, which showed a 76% increase compared to the control. The main effect of 75 mM salinity stress increased the essential oil content. 18 components were identified in Artemisia dracunculus essential oil. Estragole (84.3-90.8%) was the dominant component of essential oil in A. dracunculus, and the highest content of this compound was obtained in 150 mM NaCl salinity stress with 14% biochar application. The second component in terms of abundance was dl-limonene (1.05-3.02%), and the highest content of this compound was observed in the 75 mM salinity stress with 7% (v) of biochar.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the 150 mM salinity stress hurt the growth and physiological characteristics of A.dracunculus, but the use of biochar at the rate of 14% improved the growth and physiological characteristics and increased the dominant component of essential oil under salt stress.
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