Effect of Salinity and Rootstock on Concentration of Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, and Nitrate–Nitrogen in Thompson Seedless Grapevine

Abstract

The effect of salinity on potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P), and nitrate–nitrogen (NO₃–N) concentration and partitioning was studied in a hydroponic culture of own-rooted grapevine, cultivar Thompson seedless (Vitis vinifera L.), or grafted onto the rootstocks 110R, 140Ru, 1103P, SO4, and 41B. Plants were grown in 25 L pots and exposed to salinity by irrigation for a period of 60 days with 50% Hoagland No. 2 nutrient solution also containing 5, 25, 50, or 100 mM NaCl. At the end of the stress period, concentrations of K, Ca, Mg, P, and NO₃–N were measured in leaf blades, leaf petioles, shoots, trunk, and roots. Leaf blade, leaf petiole, and shoot P concentrations increased with salinity, whereas that of NO₃–N and K decreased in all parts of the vine. Salinity had no effect on shoot Ca and Mg, trunk P and Mg, and root P, Ca, and Mg concentrations. Rootstock genotype significantly influenced the nutrient concentrations of different vine organs, except those of blade and root Ca, petiole Mg and NO₃–N, shoot P and NO₃–N, and trunk P and NO₃–N.

Keywords:

• Salt stress
• Plant composition
• Mineral nutrition
• Salt tolerance
• K: Na ratio

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express sincere thanks to George Kolioradaki, Lecturer of Viticulture, for his valuable contribution to the accomplishment of this study.