An Analysis to the Driving Forces for Water and Salt Absorption in Roots of Maize Seedlings Under Salt Stress

When maize seedlings were subjected to salt stress,a decline in root xylem pressure was observed within seconds,followed by a gradual increase in Na＋ deposition in the seedlings.The magnitude of xylem pressure response was positively correlated with,but not proportional to the intensity of the stress.A continuous recording of the xylem pressure profile showed that self-regulation of the xylem pressure existed before and after the imposition of salt stress when the environmental conditions were relatively stable.The salt induced increase in xylem tension dominated the total water potential of the plant when the salt stress was mild,but the osmotic potential became more prominent when the NaCl concentration in the root bathing solution was raised to over 100 mol m-3.The average transpiration rate of the seedlings dropped by 40% when the NaCl concentration in the root ambient was increased to 150 mol m-3.Although salt stress resulted in the decline of both the xylem pressure potential and the osmotic potential in the root xylem,the changes in the total water potential of the root xylem solution were always smaller than the changes in the water （osmotic） potentials of the solution bathing the root.An analysis to the water relations of maize seedlings showed that not only the water potential components,but the radial reflection coefficient of the roots was also dependent on the level of salinity.When the NaCl level in the root bathing solution was raised from 25 to 150 mol m-3,the radial reflection coefficient of the root declined from 0.43 to 0.31.This small change resulted in a remarkable increase in the normalised relative NaCl absorption by 2.4 times,indicating that the radial reflection coefficient of root played a very important role in regulating the absorption of NaCl in maize seedlings under salt stress.

Na^+ and Water Uptake in Relation to the Radial Reflection Coefficient of Root in Arrowleaf Saltbush Under Salt Stress

The response of halophyte arrowleaf saltbush （Atriplex triangularis Willd） plants to a gradient of salt stress were investigated with hydroponically cultured seedlings. Under salt stress, both the Na^＋ uptake into root xylem and negative pressures in xylem vessels increased with the elevation of salinity （up to 500 mol/m^3） in the root environment. However, the increment in negative pressures in root xylem far from matches the decrease in the osmotic potential of the root bathing solutions, even when the osmotic potential of xylem sap is taken into consideration. The total water potential of xylem sap in arrowleaf saltbush roots was close to the osmotic potential of root bathing solutions when the salt stress was low, but a progressively increased gap between the water potential of xylem sap and the osmotic potential of root bathing solutions was observed when the salinity in the root environment was enhanced. The maximum gap was 1.4 MPa at a salinity level of 500 mol/m^3 without apparent dehydration of the tested plants. This discrepancy could not be explained with the current theories in plant physiology. The radial reflection coefficient of root in arrowleaf saltbush decreased with the enhanced salt stress was and accompanied by an increase in the Na^＋ uptake into xylem sap. However, the relative Na^＋ in xylem exudates based on the corresponding NaCl concentration in the root bathing solutions showed a tendency of decrease. The results showed that the reduction in the radial reflection coefficient of roots in the arrowleaf saltbush did not lead to a mass influx of NaCl into xylem when the radial reflection coefficient of the root was considerably small; and that arrowleaf saltbush could use small xylem pressures to counterbalance the salt stresses, either with the uptake of large amounts of salt, or with the development of xylem pressures dangerously negative. This strategy could be one of the mechanisms behind the high resistance of arrowleaf saltbush plants to salt stress.