Responses of Apple Plants to Salinity Stress

Salt stress is a common agricultural problem that affects both quantity and quality of fruit crops. Responses of rootstocks against salinity possess importance due to demonstrating stress tolerance. Little is known about the early responses of apple plants to short term salinity. In our study, we investigated the physiological responses of an apple plant cv Fuji grafted onto M9 and MM106 rootstocks against 35 mM NaCl stress. After 1 month, salt-treated plants exhibited decreased chlorophyll content (SPAD). Salt stress decreased stomatal conductance values of Fuji/M9 and Fuji/MM106 by 17.0 and 30.1%, respectively when compared with own control. Membrane permeability decreased by 21.3 and 22.0% in salt-treated Fuji/M9 and Fuji/MM106, respectively compared with own control. Reduction due to salt stress in SPAD value, stomatal conductance and leaf relative water content and increase in leaf temperature and membrane permeability were greater in Fuji/MM106 than in Fuji/M9, suggesting that under short term salinity toxic effects of NaCl were less in Fuji/M9