The effects of drought and salt stresses on some morphological and biochemical parameters of savory (Satureja hortensis L.)

Subject Areas : Medicinal Plants

Sedegeh Fabriki ourang ¹ , Sorayya Mehrabad-Pourbenab ²

1 - 1Assistant Professor, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran.
2 - 2M.Sc. student of Plant Breeding, Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran

Received: 2016-08-22 Accepted : 2016-11-08 Published : 2016-12-01

Keywords: Anthocyanin, Flavonoid, Salinity, drought, Summer Savory,

Abstract :

There exist a number of reports regarding secondary metabolites increasing under the environmental stresses. Hence, to study the effects of drought (70 and 40% field capacity) and salinity (50 mM NaCl) on some morphological and biochemical parameters of summer Savory (Satureja hortensis L.), inclusive fresh and dry weight of leaf, root and shoot, plant height, root length, root to shoot ratio, several leaves and branches, total chlorophyll, chlorophyll a and b, anthocyanin, flavonoids and total alkaloid, an experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four replications and treatments. Biochemical compounds were measured using spectrophotometric method. The analysis of variance were showed that drought and salinity, plant tissue and their interactions were significantly (p≤0.01) different for all chemical compounds except for flavonoids. The results were showed that salt stress did not have negative impact on morphological traits, and in salinity compared to non-stress, plant height (from 18.4 to 19.8 cm), a  number of leaves (from 33 to 36) and root fresh weight (from 0.05 to 0.08 gr) increased significantly, but shoot fresh weight (with 0.5 and 0.52 gr), shoot dry weight (0.03 and 0.03 gr), root dry weight (0.02 and 0.016 gr) and leaf dry weight (0.04 and 0.04 gr) did not have any significant differences. All features were affected by drought stress comparison to non-stress so it was determined that summer savory is sensitive to drought and salinity-resistant. The total alkaloid increased under severe drought stress (0.173 OD.g-1.DW) and salinity (0.16 OD.g-1.DW) compared to non-stress (0.12 OD.g-1.DW) about 44 and 33%, respectively. Carotenoids decreased with increasing severity of drought stress, while it increased under salt stress (0.133 mg.g-1.FW) compared with non- stress (0.12 mg.g-1.FW). Flavonoid content was not affected by stress treatments, while the amount of anthocyanins decreased significantly in drought and salinity (0.67 and 0.62 OD.g-1.FW) compared to non-stress (1.23 OD.g-1.FW).

References:

1. Abbaszadeh, B., Sharifi-ashurabadi, E., Lebaschy, M.H., Naderi-hajibaqerkandi, M. and Moghaddami, F. 2008. Effect of drought stress on prolin, soluble sugar, chlorophyll and relative water content (RWC) of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.). Iranian Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Research, 23 (4): 504-513.


2. Aghai, K., Talai, N., Kanani, M. and Yazdani, M. 2014. Effect of salt stress on some physiological and biochemical parameters of two Salvia species.ournal of Plant Process and Function, 3(9): 85-96.


3. Arnon, D.I. 1949. Determination of chlorophyll concentration in leaf tissues of plants. Plant Physiology, 24:1.


4. Azza, A., Din, E.E., Aziz, E., Hendawy, S.F. and Omer, E.A. 2009. Response of Thymus vulgaris L. to salt stress and alar in newly reclaimed soil. Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 5(12): 2165-2170.


5. Bahreininejad, B., Razmjoo, J. and Mirza, M., 2013. Influence of water stress on morpho-physiological and phytochemical traits in Thymus daenensis. International Journal of Plant Production, 7 (1): 155-166.


6. Eman, E., Aziz, E., Hendawy, S.F. and Omer, E.A. 2008. Effect of soil type and irrigation intervals on plant growth, essential oil yield and constituents of Thymus vulgaris plant. American-Eurasian Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Science, 4(4): 443-450.


7. Eskandari-Zanjani, K., Shirani Rad, A.H., Bitarafan, Z., Aghdam, A. M., Taherkhani, T. and Khalili, P. 2012. Physiological response of sweet wormwood to salt stress under salicylic acid application and non-application conditions. Life Science Journal, 9(4):4190-4195.


8. Gorbanali, M., Baher, Z., Mirza, M. and Rezaei, M.B. 2001. Evaluation of some parameters of growth and qualitative and quantitative change in fennel essential oil composition under different irrigation regimes during periods of vegetative and reproductive growth. Research and development, 52: 40-45.


9. Esmaelpor, B., Jalilvand, P. and Hadian, J. 2013. Effect of drought stress and mycorrhizal fungi and performance of the morpho-physiological traits savory (satureja hortensis L). Journal of Agroecology, 5(2):169-177.


10. Hadian, J., Asgarilajayer, H., Motesharezadeh, B. and Ghorbanpoor, M. 2015. Evaluation of changes in performance and composition of essential oil of savory Satureja hortensis L. in response to different treatments of copper and zinc. Iran Plant Biology, 7(24): 53-66.


11. Harborne, J.B. 1973. Phytochemical Methods, London. Phytochemistry, 51, pp. 187189.


12. Hasani, A. and Omidbeigi. R. 2002. Effects of water stress on some morphological, physiological and metabolic traits of basil. Journal of Agricultural Knowledge, 12(3): 47-59.


13. Hosseini, H.F., Larijani, B., Fakhrzadeh, H., Radjabipour, B., Toliat, T. and Reza, M. 2006. The efficacy of Silybum marianum L. Gaertn. (silymarin) in the treatment of type II diabetes: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial. Phytotherapy Research, 20 (12) 1036-1039.


14. Hosseini, H.F., Darvishzadeh, F., Heshmat, R., Jafari-azar, Z., Raza, M. and Larijani, B. 2009. The clinical investigation of Citrullus colocynthis L. schrad fruit in treatment of Type II diabetic patients: a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Phytotherapy Research, 23 (8): 186-9.


15. Jacob, H. and Clark, G. 2002. Methods of soil analysis. Part IV Physical Method. Soil Science Inc. Madison, Wisconsin, USA, 1692 pp.


16. Jafarzadeh, L., Omidi, H. and Bostani, A.A. 2014. The study of drought stress and bio fertilizer of nitrogen on some biochemical traits of marigold medicinal plant (Calendula officinalis L.). Iranian Journal of Biology, 27(2):180-193.


17. Kabiri, R., Farahbakhsh, H. and Nasibi, F. 2014. Effect of drought stress on physiological and biochemical characteristics of Nigella sativa L. Iranian Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, 30 (4): 600-609.


18. Miller, K.L., Liebowitz, R.S. and Newby, L.K. 2004. Complementary and alternative medicine in cardiovascular disease: a review of biologically based approaches. American Heart Journal, 147: 401-11.


19. Nakabayashi, R. and Saito, K. 2015. Integrated metabolomics for abiotic stress responses in plants. Current Opinion in Plant Biology, 24: 6-10.


20. Nogues, S. and Baker, N.R. 2000. Effect of drought on photosynthesis in Mediterranean plants grown under enhanced UV-B radiation. Journal of Experimental Botany, 51:1309-1317.


21. Rasam, G.H., Dadkhah, A. and Khoshnod-yazdy, A., 2014. Assessing the impact of water shortages on morphological and physiological characteristics of medicinal plants hyssop. Journal of Agriculture, 10: 1-12.


22. Rezvani-moghaddam, P. and Nourozpour, G., 2006. The effect of irrigation intervals and plant density on yield and essential oil seeds of Nigella sativa. Research and Development, 19 (4): 133-138.


23. Riaz, P., Surendra, S. and Harting, H. 2007. Effect of irrigation intervals and splitted nitrogen on carvone content of Anethum graveolense L. grown in semi-arid region. Journal of Horticulture Environment Biotechnology, 41(4): 25-30.


24. Sanjary-Mijani, M., Syrosmehr, A. and Fakhery, B., 2015. Effect of drought stress and humic acid on some physiological characteristics of hibiscus (Hibiscus sabdarifa). Crops Improvement. 2: 403-414.


25. Setayesh-mehr, Z. and Ganjali, A. 2013. The effects of drought on growth and physiological characteristics of dill (Anethum graveolens L.). Journal of Horticultural Science, 27(1): 27-35.


26. Solinas, V., Deiana, S., Gessa, C., Bazzoni, A., Loddo, M.A. and Satta, D., 1996. Effect of water and nutrional conditiond on Rosmarinus officinalis Phenolic fraction and essential oil yield. Rivista Italiana Emergency Preparedness Position on Timeliness, 19: 189-198.


27. Zarezade, A., Tabaeiaghdaei, R., Mirhosseini, A., Arabzadeh, M. and Mirjani, L., 2016. Variation in yield and yield components and adaptability of Satureja species in Yazd province. Iranian Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. 31(6): 931-944.