Department of Plant Sciences

Boron (B) is an essential element for higher plants with a widespread deficiency in agricultural soils. Salinity, another common agricultural problem, aggravates B toxicity in plants. NaCl salinity increases B toxicity symptoms on plants and soluble B concentration in inter- and intracellular compartments in leaves. In many cases salinity and high soil B occur together making the conditions more hostile for the plants e.g. the San Joaquin Valley, California. This study investigates the interactive effects of boron toxicity and different salts including NaCl, Na2SO4 and CaCl2. These three salts were used in three separate experiments and wheat plants were exposed for three weeks to either boron or a salt alone or in combination. Salinity x boron significantly reduced shoot as well as root growth of wheat irrespective of the salt used to develop salinity. Sodium sulphate salinity alone and in combination with boron caused a higher percent reduction in shoot fresh and dry weights followed by sodium chloride and calcium chloride salinity. It shows a differential interaction of these salts with boron that may be due to their differential effect on the uptake of boron or vice versa.