Effects of salt stress on leaf traits of Alhagi sparsifolia

Desert region salinization is being accelerated because of climate change and anthropogenic disturbance, resulting in major ecological problems. Studying the leaf traits response of desert species to salt stress is of great importance to understand its adaptation to salinization. A pot experiment were applied to study the effect of different salt concentrations (50, 100, 200, 400 mmol·L-1) on leaf traits of Alhagi sparsifolia in the first growing season. The results showed that: (1) Salt stress reduces the photosynthetic capacity of A. sparsifolia, the net photosynthetic rate and transpiration rate were significantly decreased, while water use efficiency is on the rise as salt stress increasing. The fluorescence parameters of Fv/F0 and Fv/Fm in the salt treatment were lower than the control. (2) With the increase of salt stress, the specific leaf area of A. sparsifolia gradually reduced, the leaf dry matter content reduced first and then increased, and all of them were lower than the control. (3) With the increase of salt stress, Nmass and Narea in leaves declined first and then ascended, and reduced again. Pmass decreased first and then increased. However, Parea showed less change first and increased later. These results showed that the A. sparsifolia could adapt to saline environment morphologically and physiologically.