Morphological, Physiological and Biochemical Responses of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) Exposed to Salinity Stress

The morphological, physiological (biomass, water content-WC) and biochemical (proline, membrane damage-malondialdehyde-MDA, H2O2 content) responses of safflower to NaCI salt stress in different concentrations (0, 50, 75, 150, and 300 mM) were investigated for the first time in in vitro conditions in this study. At the end of the 3-week period, it was determined that NaCl had a negative effect on germination percentages. The percentage of germination was 100% in the control group, while it decreased to 30% in 150 mM NaCl and 5% in 300 mM. In general, morphological development of seedlings was significantly slowed down and seedling growth was not observed at 300 mM concentration. It was determined that the WC, fresh weights, shoot and root length decreased in all NaCl concentrations but there was no significant decrease in dry weights. MDA, proline and H2O2 contents increased in safflower seedlings in parallel with the intensity of salt treatments. While the highest MDA and proline content was found in 150 mM NaCl treatment, the highest H2O2 content was found in 75 mM NaCl treatment. In the light of these data, it has been proven that the Balci safflower variety is sensitive by showing a negative effect on the applied salt concentrations.