The Role Of Na In Responding To Drought In Succulent Xerophyte Zygophyllum Xanthoxylum

Drought stress seriously affects plant growth and is one of the major environmental factors limiting agricultural productivity. Some xerophytes have evolved multiple protective physiological mechanisms allowing them to survive and grow well in arid environments. Our previous investigations showed that Succulent xerophytes Zygophyllum xanthoxylum can absorb larger quantities of Na, and accumulated Na into vacuole, which is one of the effective strategies for Z. xanthoxylum adapting to arid environment. However, it is still not clear whether suitable Na can promote Zygophyllum xanthoxylum absorbing and accumulating Ca, Mg, Fe, N, P, Si under drought conditions or not. Thus, element characteristics of this specie was studied in my work. Results are as follows:1. under a 72 h osmotic stress, the addition of 50 mmol/L NaCl alleviated the deleterious impacts of osmotic stress on growth and water status of Z. xanthoxylum seedling,2. Under a 72 h salt stress, compared with control, concentrations of Ca, Mg, Fe, N, P, Si in Z. xanthoxylum seedling significantly increased.3. Compared with osmotic stress, in D+S treatment, Ca, Mg concentrations in leaves significantly increased by 167%,100%; Fe concentrations in roots significantly increased by 531%; N, P,Si concentrations in the whole plant significantly increased by 58%,121% and 46% respectively.These results demonstrated that 50 mmol/LNaCl can effectively alleviate effects of osmotic stress on essential elements in Z. xanthoxylum and then increase the osmotic stress resistance of plants.