Study of the Effect of Salt Stress on a Legume Faba Bean (Vicia faba L.)

Due to the fast climate change, salt stress and water stress are the main abiotic stresses that are limiting the agricultural production and threatening the food security in the world. Salt stress affects negatively the growth, the productivity and the quality of crops, it has negative impacts on the morphology and physiology of the plants. The objective of this research is to study the effect of different concentrations of NaCl (S0 = 0; S1 = 1.4; S2 = 2.2 and S3 = 8.8 g/l) on the morphological and physiological parameters of Faba bean (Vicia faba L.).The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse, in pots with a 14.5 cm height, top dimensions of 12.5 cm x 12.5 cm and bottom dimensions of 10 cm x 10 cm. In on hand, the salt stress results obtained revealed a non-significant decreases in all the studied parameters of Faba bean at the salinity level S3 = 32 dS/m = 8.8 g/l, compared to S0 (control). While in the other hand, a small increase was registered for the following parameters: fresh and dry weight of the aerial and root parts, and on the leaf surface under low level of salt concentration EC: S1 = 1.4 g/l. The leaf proline content did not show a significant differences between the different salinity levels. We can conclude that the Reina mora variety of Vicia faba L. tolerates the salt stress induced by NaCl concentrations used in this experiment.