Polyploidy increases tolerance to salt stress in Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum Pursh. Kuntze)

Seyyedeh Farahnaz Talebi | Mohammad Jamal Saharkhiz | Maryam Jafarkhani Kermani | Yavar Sharafi

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URL :   http://research.shahed.ac.ir/WSR/WebPages/Report/PaperView.aspx?PaperID=158651
Date :  2021/07/22
Publish in :    Caryologia: Giornale di Citologia, Citosistematica, e Citogenetica
DOI :  https://doi.org/10.36253/caryologia-783
Link :  http://dx.doi.org/10.36253/caryologia-783
Keywords :anise hyssop, essential oil, polyploidy, salt tolerance.

Abstract :

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Salinization is one of the most serious environmental problems in agricul-ture. Polyploid induction could increase abiotic stress tolerance in plants. In this study, the effect of different NaCl concentrations (0, 50, 100 and 150 mM) was studied on dip-loid (2x) and tetraploid (4x) plants of anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)in vitro. The results indicated that salt stress reduced survival percentage, stem length, and leaf and shoot number in both tetraploid and diploid plants. However, tetraploid plants had better survival and growth rates compared with diploids. The highest antioxidant enzyme activ-itywas observed in the plants treated with 100 mM NaCl, while increasing the salinity to 150 mM NaCl lowered the activity of antioxidant enzymes significantly. Essential oil con-tent in diploid and tetraploid plants decreased as the concentration of NaCl was elevated. Also, salinity stress affected the chemical composition of essential oil in both diploid and tetraploid plants. In conclusion, the results indicated that tetraploids showed greater tol-erance to salt stress compared with diploids, and polyploidy might be a useful breeding method in anise hyssop to amplify its tolerance to salt stress under soil salinity.