ABSTRACT
The effect of salinity (NaCl) on chlorophyll, leaf water potential, total soluble sugars, and mineral nutrients in two young Iranian commercial olive cultivars (‘Zard’ and ‘Roghani’) was studied. One-year-old trees of these cultivars were planted in 10-L plastic pots containing equal ratio of sand-perlite mixture (1:1). Sodium chloride at concentrations of 0, 40, 80, 120, or 160 mM plus Hoagland's solution were applied to these pots for 150 days. The results showed that chlorophylls (a), (b), and (a+b) reduced with increasing of salinity up to 40 mM. There was no difference between cultivars for chlorophylls (b) and (a+b) while ‘Roghani’ showed more decreased in content of chlorophyll (a) than did ‘Zard’. Total soluble sugars in leaves increased with an increase in salinity up to 80 mM but decreased with additional increase in salinity. Salinity stress reduced water potential equally in both cultivars. The concentrations of sodium (Na) and chloride (Cl) and Na/potassium (K) ratio were increased and K decreased with increasing of salinity up to 80 mM in leaves and roots. Concentrations of K, magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), and nitrogen (N) reduced significantly in leaves, shoots and roots with increasing salinity.