Journal of Rangeland

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A field experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with three replications in Arsanjan to assess the effects of different levels of water salinity on some physiological and biochemical traits of Melissa officinallis L. In this experiment, three levels of salinity were used including 1, 4 and 7 DS/m, induced by applying water of agricultural wells with natural salinity. Dry weight of stem and leaves, the amount of sodium, potassium, Proline, and active constituents were measured in the vegetative growth of the species. All transplants were dried in 7 DS/m salinity, therefore no data was obtained from this treatment. Data were analyzed in SAS software version of 9/1. The results showed that in salinity treatments 1 DS/m, there was a higher dry weight and Proline content but these characteristics were decreased by 4 DS/m. Although increasing the amount of salinity increased the sodium content, potassium content and the ratio of potassium to sodium decreased. Although increasing salt stress increase some compounds in the essential oil of the species, some other important compound decreased. Some of these compounds were not present in control treatment but produced at 4 DS/m. Some other compounds were produced in control treatment, but with increasing salinity stress at 4 DS/m their production was stopped. Since this plant was dried in 7 DS/m water salinity, and defense mechanism of plants was decreased in 4 DS/m water salinity, it can be concluded that this species is a sensitive species to salinity stress. This study indicated that 1 DS/m is the water salinity threshold for growing this species in rangeland ecosystems.
 

Keywords: Essential oil, Proline, Salinity stress, K+ / Na+, GC/MS.

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