Abstract
Scarcity of good-quality irrigation water is a major impediment to meet food demand for a growing world population. Recycled waters may be available locally more affordably, but their higher salinity is a concern. Salinity effects on spinach mineral composition, antioxidant capacity, photosynthesis, and gene expression have not been established. Spinach cv. Raccoon was greenhouse-grown and irrigated with four levels of water salinity of electrical conductivities (ECiw) of 1.4 (control) or ranging from 3.6 to 9.4 dS m−1, combined with three levels of K (3, 5, and 7 meq L−1). Irrigation waters had 2, 20, 40, and 80 meq L−1 of NaCl. After 23 treatment days, plants significantly accumulated Na and Cl in shoots and roots with increasing salinity, regardless of the K concentration in the irrigation water. Plants exhibited no visual symptoms of salt toxicity and there were no differences in shoot growth. Plants maintained their overall concentrations of mineral nutrients, physiological parameters, and oxalic acid across salinity treatments. Leaves retained all their antioxidant capacity at 20 meq L−1 NaCl, and 74% to 66% at 40 and 80 meq L−1 NaCl, respectively. Expression analyses of ten genes, that play important role in salt tolerance, indicated that although some genes were upregulated in plants under salinity, compared to the control, there was no association between Na or K tissue concentrations and gene expression. Results clearly show that spinach maintains its growth, mineral composition, and antioxidant capacity up to ECiw = 9.4 dS m−1. As this salinity is equivalent to a soil salinity of 4.5 dS m−1, spinach can tolerate over two-fold its previously-considered salinity threshold. Thus, growers can cultivate spinach using recycled, saline, waters without detriment to shoot biomass accumulation, and nutritional value.
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Claims 11
Claim · model-written summary
Spinach shoots and roots significantly accumulated Na and Cl with increasing salinity, regardless of K concentration.
- Taxon
- Spinach
Spinacia oleraceat0 - Organ / stage
- shoots and rootse0
- Treatment
- increasing salinitye0
- Outcome
- Na and Cle0
- Direction
- accumulatede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“plants significantly accumulated Na and Cl in shoots and roots with increasing salinity”
t0“Spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
Spinach plants showed no visual symptoms of salt toxicity.
- Taxon
- SpinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Outcome
- visual symptoms of salt toxicitye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Plants exhibited no visual symptoms of salt toxicity”
t0“Spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
There were no differences in spinach shoot growth across salinity treatments.
- Taxon
- SpinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Outcome
- shoot growthe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“there were no differences in shoot growth”
t0“Spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
Spinach maintained its mineral nutrient concentrations, physiological parameters and oxalic acid across salinity treatments.
- Taxon
- SpinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Treatment
- salinity treatmentse0
- Outcome
- concentrations of mineral nutrients, physiological parameters, and oxalic acide0
- Direction
- maintainede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Plants maintained their overall concentrations of mineral nutrients, physiological parameters, and oxalic acid across salinity treatments”
t0“Spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
Spinach leaves retained all their antioxidant capacity at 20 meq/L NaCl.
- Taxon
- SpinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Organ / stage
- Leavese0
- Treatment
- 20 meq L−1 NaCle0
- Outcome
- antioxidant capacitye0
- Direction
- retainede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Leaves retained all their antioxidant capacity at 20 meq L−1 NaCl, and 74% to 66% at 40 and 80 meq L−1 NaCl, respectively”
t0“Spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
Spinach leaves retained 74% of their antioxidant capacity at 40 meq/L NaCl.
- Taxon
- SpinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Organ / stage
- Leavese0
- Treatment
- 40e0
- Outcome
- antioxidant capacitye0
- Direction
- retainede0
- Value
- 74%e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Leaves retained all their antioxidant capacity at 20 meq L−1 NaCl, and 74% to 66% at 40 and 80 meq L−1 NaCl, respectively”
t0“Spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
Spinach leaves retained 66% of their antioxidant capacity at 80 meq/L NaCl.
- Taxon
- SpinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Organ / stage
- Leavese0
- Treatment
- 80 meq L−1 NaCle0
- Outcome
- antioxidant capacitye0
- Direction
- retainede0
- Value
- 66%e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Leaves retained all their antioxidant capacity at 20 meq L−1 NaCl, and 74% to 66% at 40 and 80 meq L−1 NaCl, respectively”
t0“Spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
Some of ten salt-tolerance genes were upregulated in spinach under salinity compared with the control.
- Taxon
- SpinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Treatment
- salinitye0
- Outcome
- genese0
- Direction
- upregulatede0
- Comparator
- the controle0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“although some genes were upregulated in plants under salinity, compared to the control”
t0“Spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
There was no association between Na or K tissue concentrations and gene expression in spinach.
- Taxon
- SpinachSpinacia oleraceat0
- Compound
- Na or Ke0
- Outcome
- gene expressione0
- Direction
- no associatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“there was no association between Na or K tissue concentrations and gene expression”
t0“Spinach”
Claim · model-written summary
Spinach can tolerate over two-fold its previously considered salinity threshold.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceae0
- Outcome
- salinity thresholde0
- Value
- over two-folde0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“spinach can tolerate over two-fold its previously-considered salinity threshold”
Claim · model-written summary
Growers can cultivate spinach with recycled saline water without detriment to shoot biomass accumulation and nutritional value.
- Taxon
- spinachSpinacia oleraceae0
- Outcome
- shoot biomass accumulation, and nutritional valuee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“growers can cultivate spinach using recycled, saline, waters without detriment to shoot biomass accumulation, and nutritional value”
The same questions in other papers
salinity · nutrient: content · Spinacia oleracea (spinach)Results agree
8 papers in the same direction as this paper
- negative
- no effect
- negative
5 papers more in this group
See all 9 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.