Effect of Salt Stress on Growth, Anthocyanins, Membrane Permeability and Chlorophyll Fluorescence of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) Seedlings

To study the response of okra (Abelmoschus esculentus cv. Marsaouia) to salinity, the effect on seedling growth, water content, anthocyanins content and chlorophyll fluorescence was investigated. Okra seeds were germinated in Petri dishes and sown in peat culture under controlled conditions and submitted during 2 weeks to saline stress ranging from 0 (distilled water) to 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 mmol of NaCl. Results showed that salt has no significant effect on aerial part dry weight and it showed no changes in chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (Fo and Fv/Fm). By contrast, root dry weight decreased with increasing NaCl concentration with a subsequent increase in root water content and cotyledons+hypocotyls/root ratio. In addition, anthocyanins content and electrolyte leakage were highly increased by exposure to high levels of salt especially 80 and 100 mmol NaCl.