Welcome to Acta Prataculturae Sinica ! Today is Share:

Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2009, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (3): 192-199.

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Salinity stress responses and tolerance thresholds in four warm-season turfgrasses

LIU Yi-ming, CHENG Feng-zhi, WANG Qi, HU Yu-yong, WANG Zhao-long   

  1. Institute of Turfgrass Sciences, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai 201101, China
  • Received:2008-08-07 Online:2009-06-20 Published:2009-06-20

Abstract: Four warm-season turfgrass species ]Bermudagrass ‘Tifdwarf’ (Cynodon dactylon×C. transadlensis), Centipedegrass (Eremochloa ophiuroides), Seashore Paspalum ‘Salam’ (Paspalum vaginatum), and Zoysiagrass (Zoysia matrella)] were grown in PVC pots under a series of NaCl concentrations to study the salinity stress responses of turfgrass growth and physiological parameters. Seashore Paspalum showed the best salinity tolerance. The visual quality, relative growth rate, relative water content, chlorophyll index, and Fv/Fm decreased 52.2%, 76.2%, 62.1%, 59.4%, and 72.9%, respectively after 36 d at 600 mmol/L NaCl, but the electrolyte leakage increased to 71.5%. The cell membrane damage in Seashore Paspalum was the lowest of the three species. Zoysiagrass also showed good salinity tolerance, with decreases in visual quality, relative growth rate, relative water content, chlorophyll index, and Fv/Fm of 85.2%, 85.3%, 70.5%, 73.9%, and 49.3%, respectively after 36 d at 600 mmol/L NaCl, and with an increase in electrolyte leakage of 81.8%. Bermudagrass and Centipedegrass showed the lowest salinity tolerance with treatment of 600 mmol/L NaCl and both species were dead after 36 d. The salinity tolerance thresholds of four turfgrass species were determined using linear regression of plant growth rate against NaCl concentration. After 36 d treatment plant growth rate was reduced to 50% of the control. The tolerance thresholds are Centipedegrass 222.4 mmol/L, Bermudagrass 232.4 mmol/L, Zoysiagrass 374.8 mmol/L, and Seashore paspalum 474.0 mmol/L.

CLC Number: