EFFECT OF SOME VITAMINS ON THE IONIC BALANCE AND PROTEIN PROFILES OF SALT- STRESSED FLAX SEEDLINGS

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams Univeristy, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Theadverse effects of salinity on some physiological and biochemical responses of flax (Linum usitatissimum) seedlings grown at 100, 200, and 300 mM NaCl were studied. Salinity induced marked decreases percentage of germination, reduction in nucleic acids, as well as membrane stability index (MSI) of salinized flax seedlings. Data also revealed that salinized flax seedlings accumulated high levels of Na, Cl, P and Mgwhile Kand Caions were significantly decreased. Application of some vitamins (folic acid, ascorbic acid and cobalamin) counteracted the adverse effects of salinity. The mechanism of these vitamins on alleviating salt stress hazards might be mediated by stimulating the de novo synthesis of new set of low molecular weight proteins, reduction in some ions (Na and Cl) coupled with increases in the accumulation of others (K, Ca, P and Mg), consequently vitamins maintain high percentage of MSI throughout the experiment, thereby enhanced the capacity for germination under salt stress conditions

Keywords