Salt stress effect on the phenolic and volatile profile of Genovese and Greek types of Ocimum basilicum L.

Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is an aromatic herb belonging to the genus Ocimum, Lamiaceae family, and is widely used worldwide.
It is grown mainly for its distinctive aroma, which is the result of various volatile substances.
Like many other cultivated plant species, it is also susceptible to soil salinity, which is an ever-increasing problem in agriculture.
Basil is tolerant to salinity up to 2.30 dS m^‑1, moderately sensitive to salinities of 3.80 and 6.08 dS m^‑1, and highly sensitive to salinity of 8.48 dS m^‑1. In a hydroponic experiment, we tested two basil types, namely the Genovese type and the Greek basil type, exposed to a salt stress of 100 mM NaCl (approximately 6.0 dS m^‑1). We investigated the responses of both basil varieties to salt stress in terms of yield, phenolic and volatile profiles using the HPLC/MS and GC/MS systems.
The Genovese basil type ‘Marian’ yield was decreased under saline conditions by 53% and the Greek type of basil ‘Manos’ by 416.9%, compared to the control.
We found that the content of all volatiles analyzed decreased in the Genovese-type basil and increased in the Greek-type basil grown under salt stress compared to the control treatment.
Similar results were also obtained for the phenolic content of both basil cultivars.
Our study provided an interesting insight into the volatile and phenolic profiles of two basil cultivars grown under moderate salt stress.
The results showed that the response of basil depends mainly on the genotype and that the choice of cultivar is very important depending on the growing conditions.

IX South-Eastern Europe Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes

T. Zamljen, A. Slatnar

abiotic stress, basil, cultivar, metabolites, NaCl

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1391.77