Effects of salinity stress on some growth, physiological, biochemical parameters and nutrients in two pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) rootstocks

In the present study, effects of salinity stress were evaluated in the leaves and roots of two pistachio cultivars (Badami-Rize-Zarand (BZ) and Badami-e-Sefid (BS)). In overall, salinity negatively affects growth of both cultivars with more pronounced effects on BS. The physiological reason of the reduction could be attributed to some extent to more depletion of photosynthetic pigment in BS. In both cultivars, salinity increased proline content. Moderate and high salinities increased the soluble sugar contents in BZ. In both cultivars, Na+ content increased in plant organs with increasing Na+ in the media. Salinity treatment decreased the Fe and Pi contents in BS cultivar, while they remained unchanged in BZ. These results show that BZ cultivar exhibits more tolerance to salinity stress than BS cultivar possibly by better growth performance, accumulating more osmolytes, lesser accumulation of toxic sodium ion and lower Na+/K+ in the shoots as well as maintaining nutrient contents.