Morpho-Biochemical effect of salinity on medicinal plants of Gilgit-Biltistan, Pakistan

Abstract

Abstract Salinity stress is one of the significant abiotic stresses affecting germination, seedling length, biomass, total protein, and antioxidant enzyme activity in plants. The present study attempts to understand the effect of salt stress on medicinal plants found in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), northern areas of Pakistan. Seeds of medicinal plants were sterilized and grown in Petri Dishes containing salt treatments of 0 mM, 100 mM, and 200 mM separately for one week. The effect of salinity stress on morphological parameters like germination percentage, seedling length, and biomass was observed. The biochemical parameters such as total protein, ascorbate peroxidase (APX), and guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The statistical analysis was performed by the software SPSS version 20.0. Spectrophotometry and gel electrophoresis was used to analyze total protein and antioxidant enzymes quantitatively and qualitatively. It was noticed that increasing levels of salt there was a negative effect on germination percentage (Mean square MS, 8964.48**), seedling length (MS, 208.69**), and biomass (MS, 2.609**). Salinity has no significant effect on the activity of antioxidant enzymes, APX (MS, 31686.791 non-significant), and GPX (MS, 23.41, non-significant). Still, it significantly affects the total protein (MS,17442485.315**) of different genotypes of medicinal plants.