Growth and Water Relations of Sun-cured Tobacco Irrigated with Saline Water

We have investigated the effects of saline irrigation on growth and water relations of two sun-cured tobacco genotypes, Xp102 and Px107, which belong to the Xanthia and Perustitza tobacco ecotypes, respectively. We compared three commercial sea salt concentrations of the irrigation water (0.25%, 0.5%, and 1% w/v) plus a non-salinized control, corresponding to an electrical conductivity (ECw) of 4.4, 8.5, 15.7, 0.5 dS m^-1 and osmotic potentials of -0.22, -0.35, -0.73, -0.02 MPa, respectively. The EC_soil increased with the salinity of the irrigation water. At high salinity (1%), the soil where Px107 plants were grown showed a significantly higher salinity compared to the soil of Xp102. For both genotypes, the soil water content increased at increasing salinity and during the growth season. Increasing salinity progressively reduced the leaf turgor pressure and enhanced the cellular osmotic adjustment. The latter resulted to be more pronounced in Px107 compared to Xp102 (0.36 vs. 0.20 MPa). At higher salinity (0.5% and 1%), both genotypes showed reduced leaf surface area, dry matter accumulation, water use, net assimilation rate (NAR) and crop growth rate (CGR). Px107 roots were more sensitive than shoot to salinity (3% reduction per dS m^-1) and compared to Xp102 roots, which showed a reduced development only at 1% salinity. Assessment of plant salt tolerance according to the Maas and Hoffman model revealed a slope of 1-2% for both genotypes, indicating that these tobaccos are relatively more salt tolerant compared to other species.