The Effects of Calcium on the Response of Snapbean to Sodium-Induced Stress

Author

Masud Ahmad Khan, Utah State University

Date of Award:

5-1991

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Plants, Soils, and Climate

Department name when degree awarded

Plants, Soils, and Biometeorology

Committee Chair(s)

Lynn M. Dudley

Committee

Lynn M. Dudley

Committee

Jerome J. Jurinak

Committee

William F. Campbell

Committee

Donald V. Sisson

Abstract

Soil salinity is a major concern to agriculture in arid and semiarid regions, where evapotranspiration causes salts originating from irrigation water (or sometimes naturally from the soil) to become concentrated in the rooting zone. In some areas, with good management, it has been economically feasible to ameliorate a sodic soil with Ca. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of Ca amelioration of salinity (sodicity) on biomass, number of nodules, number of pods, weight of pods, ion uptake, and photosynthesis of Phaseolus vulgaris L.

Plants were grown in one liter styrofoam pots under greenhouse conditions. In the first experiment, Na stress was accomplished by adding NaCl and Na₂SO₄ at concentrations of 0, 20, 40, 60, and 80 mmol_c/l. The second and third experiments used concentrations of 0, 15, 30, 45, and 60 mmol_c/l NaCl or Na₂SO₄, combined with two levels of 15 and 30 mmol_c/l of either CaSO₄ or CaCl₂. Each styrofoam pot was irrigated with 300 ml of salt solution with a 0.25 leaching fraction on every fourth day for four weeks.

Increasing Na concentration decreased biomass, number of nodules, number of pods, and weight of pods but increased ion uptake. Addition of NaCl in the substrate increased shoot Na, Ca, and Cl content, while Na₂SO₄ increased shoot S content. The photosynthesis rate was affected by all levels and types of sodium salts. Calcium sulfate treatments had a greater ameliorating effect than CaCl₂ on Na induced salinity in snapbeans.

Checksum

32c70288f6dc20a68adb562d43c75368

Recommended Citation

Khan, Masud Ahmad, "The Effects of Calcium on the Response of Snapbean to Sodium-Induced Stress" (1991). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023. 3486.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/3486