title: The impact of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in mitigating salt-induced adverse effects in sweet basil (Ocimum basilicumL.).
abstract: Salinity is one of the serious abiotic stresses adversely affecting the majority of arable lands worldwide, limiting the crop productivity of most of the economically important crops. Sweet basil (Osmium basilicum) plants were grown in a non-saline soil (EC = 0.64 dS m-1), in low saline soil (EC = 5 dS m-1), and in a high saline soil (EC = 10 dS m-1). There were differences between arbuscular mycorrhizal (Glomus deserticola) colonized plants (+AMF) and non-colonized plants (-AMF). Mycorrhiza mitigated the reduction of K, P and Ca uptake due to salinity. The balance between K/Na and between Ca/Na was improved in +AMF plants. Growth enhancement by mycorrhiza was independent from plant phosphorus content under high salinity levels. Different growth parameters, salt stress tolerance and accumulation of proline content were investigated, these results showed that the use of mycorrhizal inoculum (AMF) was able to enhance the productivity of sweet basil plants under salinity conditions. Mycorrhizal inoculation significantly increased chlorophyll content and water use efficiency under salinity stress. The sweet basil plants appeared to have high dependency on AMF which improved plant growth, photosynthetic efficiency, gas exchange and water use efficiency under salinity stress. In this study, there was evidence that colonization with AMF can alleviate the detrimental salinity stress influence on the growth and productivity of sweet basil plants.
authors.affiliation: Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; Vegetable and Floriculture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Egypt.
authors.forename: Khalid M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Elhindi
authors.affiliation: Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; Ornamental Plants and Landscape Gardening Research Department, Horticulture Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Giza, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmed Sharaf
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: El-Din
authors.affiliation: College of Science, Botany and Microbiology Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Abdallah M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Elgorban
keywords: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi; Gas exchange; Salt stress; Sweet bail