Evaluation of Salvia hispanica performance under increasing salt stress conditions

Chia (Salvia hispanica L.) is an annual herbaceous plant that belongs to the Lamiaceae family prominently grown for its seeds.
Recently, high interest has been focused on the nutritional and medicine properties of this potential oil seed crop.
In many irrigated areas of the Mediterranean region, farmers are forced to use saline water to irrigate their crops due to an inadequate supply of fresh water.
A greenhouse experiment was conducted to determine plant growth parameters, biomass production and partitioning, and physiological responses of chia grown in soilless culture and treated with four salinity treatments: 0.3, 20, 40 and 60 mM of NaCl.
The plant height, number of leaves, leaf area and specific leaf weight recorded in the 20 mM of NaCl treatment were reduced by 14, 53, 70, and 55%, respectively than those recorded in the control treatment, whereas all plant growth parameters were reduced dramatically under severe salt stress conditions (40 and 60 mM NaCl). Similarly plant growth parameters, biomass production and partitioning were significantly influenced by the salt concentration in the nutrient solution.
The highest values were recorded in the control treatment, followed by 20 and 40 mM NaCl, treatments, whereas the lowest values were recorded under severe stress conditions (60 mM NaCl). Salvia hispanica could be classified as sensitive salt stress species.

International Symposium on New Technologies and Management for Greenhouses – GreenSys2015

G. Raimondi, Y. Rouphael, E. Di Stasio, F. Napolitano, G. Clemente, R. Maiello, M. Giordano, S. De Pascale

agronomic responses, chia, oil seed crop, relative water content, salinity

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2017.1170.88