The seedlings of wheat were treated by salt-stress (SS, molar ratio of NaCl: Na2SO4 = 1:1) and alkali-stress (AS, molar ratio of NaHCO3: Na2CO3 = 1:1). Relative growth rate (RGR), leaf area, and water content decreased with increasing salinity, and the extents of the reduction under AS were greater than those under SS. The contents of photosynthetic pigments did not decrease under SS, but increased at low salinity. On the contrary, the contents of photosynthetic pigments decreased sharply under AS with increasing salinity. Under SS, the changes of net photosynthetic rate (PN), stomatal conductance (gs), and transpiration rate (E) were similar and all varied in a single-peak curve with increasing salinity, and they were lower than those of control only at salinity over 150 mM. Under AS, PN, gs, and E decreased sharply with rising salinity. The decrease of gs might cause the obvious decreases of E and intercellular CO2 concentration, and the increase of water use efficiency under both stresses. The Na+ content and Na+/K+ ratio in shoot increased and the K+ content in shoot decreased under both stresses, and the changing extents under AS were greater than those under SS. Thus SS and AS are two distinctive stresses with different characters; the destructive effects of AS on the growth and photosynthesis of wheat are more severe than those under SS. High pH is the key feature of the AS that is different from SS. The buffer capacity is essentially the measure of high pH action on plant. The deposition of mineral elements and the intracellular unbalance of Na+ and K+ caused by the high pH at AS might be the reason of the decrease of PN and gs and of the destruction of photosynthetic pigments. and C. W. Yang ... [et al.].
Cations such as Mg2+ regulate spillover of absorbed excitation energy mainly in favour of photosystem (PS) 2. Effect of low concentration (<10 mM) of the monovalent cation Na+ on chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence was completely overridden by divalent cation Mg2+ (5 mM). Based on Chl a fluorescence yield and 77 K emission measurements, we revealed the role and effectiveness of anions (Cl-, SO42-, PO43-) in lowering the Mg2+-induced PS2 fluorescence. The higher the valency of the anion, the lesser was the expression of Mg2+ effect. Anions may thus overcome Mg2+ effects up to certain extent in a valency dependent manner, thereby diverting more energy to PS1 even in the presence of MgCl2. They may do so by reversing Mg2+-induced changes. and Anjana Jajoo, Sudhakar Bharti.