Growth, Solute Accumulation, and Ion Distribution in Sweet Sorghum under Salt and Drought Stresses in a Brazilian Potiguar Semiarid Area

• Published in: Agriculture (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 4; p. 803
• Main Authors: de Queiroz, Gabriela Carvalho Maia, de Medeiros, José Francismar, da Silva, Rodrigo Rafael, da Silva Morais, Francimar Maik, de Sousa, Leonardo Vieira, de Souza, Maria Vanessa Pires, da Nóbrega Santos, Elidayane, Ferreira, Fagner Nogueira, da Silva, Juliana Maria Costa, Clemente, Maria Isabela Batista, de Castro Granjeiro, Jéssica Christie, de Araújo Sales, Matheus Nathan, Constante, Darcio Cesar, Nobre, Reginaldo Gomes, da Silva Sá, Francisco Vanies
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-04-2023
• Subjects: Abiotic stress; Agricultural production; Amino acids; Crops; Cultivars; Design of experiments; Drought; Economic development; Electrical conductivity; Electrical resistivity; Evapotranspiration; Experimental design; Humidity; Ion distribution; Irrigation; Irrigation water; Metabolism; Metabolites; Plant growth; Rain; Salinity; Salinity effects; Salt; Salts; Semi arid areas; Semiarid lands; Sorghum; stress response; Sugar; tolerance; Water deficit; Water stress; Brazil
• ISSN: 2077-0472; 2077-0472
• DOI: 10.3390/agriculture13040803

Agriculture in semiarid regions commonly face problems because of salt and availability of irrigation water. Considering this, studies on cultures resistant to salt and water stresses involving sweet sorghum are required. Therefore, the aim was to evaluate the growth and other mechanisms of tolerance to salinity and water deficit in BRS 506 sweet sorghum. The experimental design was conducted in Upanema-RN, Brazil, in randomized blocks, where the isolated and interactive effect of 3 salinity levels, expressed as the electrical conductivity of irrigation water (1.5, 3.8, and 6.0 dS m−1), and 3 irrigation depths (55, 83, and 110% of crop evapotranspiration) were evaluated. During the cycle, sorghum adapted to the salinity and deficit irrigation depth, since stem height reduced only −5.5% with increasing salinity and −11.95% with decreasing irrigation depth, and aerial dry mass was affected by interaction only at the end of the cycle. Proline, total amino acids, and total soluble sugars were not differenced by stresses. Additionally, around 68.71% of total Na+ was at roots at the end of the cycle. In summary, sorghum BRS 506 was more tolerant to salt than water stress and used Na+ compartmentalization in root cells as the main tolerance mechanism.