Work

Salinity tolerance and growth response of redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.): a comprehensive evaluation

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Amaranths (Amaranthus L.) are multi-use crop species known for their nutritional quality and tolerance to salinity stress. As soil salinity has become an increasing issue globally, we conducted a study to test the salinity tolerance of one cultivar of Amaranthus retroflexus L. (Redroot pigweed). The plants were grown for 30 days in pot culture conditions at different salinity levels: non-saline, slightly saline, moderately saline, highly saline, and extremely saline (using two different rates: extreme1 and extreme2. We assessed various growth parameters including plant height, stem diameter, root, stem and leaves fresh (FW) and dry weight (DW), water content (WC), photosynthesis rate (Pn), transpiration rate (E), water use efficiency (WUE), chlorophyll content index (CCI), nutrient content, phytodesalination potential, salt tolerance index (STI), and vegetation indices. Our findings indicated that at slight to moderate levels of salinity, growth parameters and other factors, such as STI and vegetation indices, were less affected compared to higher levels of salinity for A. retroflexus L.

Source: PeerJ

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.19717

Authors: Gohar Margaryan, Abhishek Singh, Vishnu D. Rajput, Mohamed Soliman Elshikh, Sapna Rawat, Karen Ghazaryan

Institutions: Yerevan State University, Southern Federal University, King Saud University, University of Delhi

Language: English

Topic: Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance

Subfield: Plant Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Zero hunger

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,395