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Salt Gland Excretion Efficiency and Salinity Tolerance of Sporobolus Species Piumi Shrimani Weragodavidana

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Salt Gland Excretion Efficiency and Salinity Tolerance of Sporobolus Species Piumi Shrimani Weragodavidana United Arab Emirates University Scholarworks@UAEU Theses Electronic Theses and Dissertations 11-2016 Salt Gland Excretion Efficiency and Salinity Tolerance of Sporobolus Species Piumi Shrimani Weragodavidana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uaeu.ac.ae/all_theses Part of the Environmental Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Weragodavidana, Piumi Shrimani, "Salt Gland Excretion Efficiency and Salinity Tolerance of Sporobolus Species" (2016). Theses. 469. https://scholarworks.uaeu.ac.ae/all_theses/469 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at Scholarworks@UAEU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarworks@UAEU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. lmEU United Arab Emirates University College of Science Departmentof Biology SALT GLAND EXCRETION EFFICIENCY AND SALINITY TOLERANCE OF SPOROBOLUS SPECIES Piumi Shrimani Baghya Weragodavidana This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Enviro1m1ental Sciences Under the Supervision of Dr. Synan AbuQamar November 2016 11 Declaration of Original Work I, Piumi Slu·imani Baghya Weragodavidana, the undersigned, a graduate student at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU), and the author of this thesis entitled "Salt Gland Excretion Efficiency and Salinity Tolerance of Sporobolus Species", hereby, solemnly declare that this thesis is my own original research work that has been done and prepared by me under the supervision of Dr. Synan AbuQamar, in the College of Science at UAEU. This work has not previously been presented or published, or formed the basis for the award of any academic degree, diploma or a similar title at this or any other university. Any materials borrowed from other sources (whether published or unpublished) and relied upon or included in my thesis have been properly cited and acknowledged in accordance with appropriate academic conventions. I further declare that there is no potential conflict of interest with respect to the research, data collection, authorship, presentation and/or publication of this thesis. V:<Jr�da___.- :6/ /w ;foun-v· Student's Signature: Date: I 1 :2.- I b 11l Copyright© 2016 Piumi Shrimani Baghya Weragodavidana All Rights Reserved IV Advisory Committee 1) Advisor: Dr. Synan AbuQamar Title: Associate Professor Department of Biology College of Science 2) Co-advisor: Dr. Khaled Abbas El Tarabily Title: Associate Professor Department of Biology College of Science v Approval of the Master Thesis This Master Thesis is approved by the following Examining Committee Members: I) Advisor (Committee Chair): Dr. Synan AbuQamar Title: Associate Professor Department of Biology (\ ± College ofScien Signature LU.......,.'-----"" -"""'�.-- - 2) Member: Dr. Taoufik Ksiksi Title: Associate Professor Department of Biology College of Science Date "G'±{I I { ?....o � { .l Signature � 9�� 3) Member (External Examiner): Dr. Ali A.M. EI-Keblawy Title: Associate Professor Department of Applied Biology, College of Sciences Institution: University ofSharjah, UAE Date z;z:/1/ /1c- ( VI This Master Thesis is accepted by: Dean of the College of Sc · ence: Professor Aluned Murad Date \L.-\ \'LI � \£ Dean of the College of � Graduate Studies: Professor Nagi T. Wakim \ ' Signature k•� Date '20 \ ·2 ZO l 0 Copy ___&___of __J:. vii Abstract Halophytic C4 grasses, including Sporobolus species, have developed specific mechanisms to cope with salinity stress. Among these, “salt glands” which are bi- cellular leaf epidermal structures eliminating excess saline ions from shoots by excretion under salinity stress. Salt glands are morphologically visible and can potentially be used for salt tolerance breeding programs. The objectives of this study were: (1) to determine the leaf salt gland excretion rates of United Arab Emirates native halophytic chloridoid grass species, S. spicatus and S. arabicus; (2) to determine if leaf salt gland excretion rate and density can effectively predict salinity tolerance among Sporobolus genotypes, by correlating excretion data of salinity tolerance data from another study; and (3) to quantify morphological differences in salt gland structure between the most tolerant and the least tolerant genotypes in each species for salinity. Forty five grass genotypes were exposed to 15,000 ppm NaCl and measured excreted leaf Na+, K+ and Cl- concentrations from mature leaves by using flame photometer and Chloride ion selective electrodes. Parameters were expressed as mmol ion g -1 leaf fresh weight. week. Selected four genotypes under non-saline conditions were compared for salt gland density, salt gland size and morphology via scanning electron microscope. Bi-cellular salt glands were observed on both leaf surfaces and the glands were protruded, globular and semi-sunken. S. arabicus genotypes had larger sized salt glands than S. spicatus genotypes. S. spicatus genotypes had higher leaf salt gland ion excretion rates and density than S. arabicus genotypes. Salt gland ion excretion rates and density, were positively correlated with salinity tolerance. This suggests that ion excretion activity is an important salinity tolerance mechanism and gland density is an important potential trait for determining salinity tolerance among the two Sporobolus species. Information gained from this study could be used as the viii basis for future investigations to understand the primary salinity tolerance mechanism in Emirati native halophytic grass. Keywords: Breeding, chloridoid, excretion, halophytic, salinity, salt gland. ix Title and Abstract (in Arabic) كفاءة افراز الغدد الملحية ومقاومة الملوحة ﻷعشاب Sporobolus الملخص إن اﻷعشاب المحلية "C4 grasses بما في ذلك Sporobolus species، طورت آليات محددة للتعامل مع ظاهرة الملوحة. ومن بين هذه اﻵليات، ما يعرف بـ"الغدد الملحية" وهي عباره عن خﻻيا ثنائية ورقية مسطحة الشكل تفرز اﻷيونات المالحة الزائدة من الجذور تحت الظروف الملحية. إن الغدد الملحية واضحة شكليا ويمكن أن تستخدم في للمقاومة الملوحة. ومن هنا تتجلى أهداف هذه الدراسة والتي تتضمن )١( تحديد معدﻻت إفراز الغدد الملحية في اﻷنواع المحلية في اﻹمارات العربية المتحدة، S. spicatus و S. arabicu: )٢( تحديد ما إذا كان معدل إفراز الغدة الملحية والكثافتها يمكن التنبؤ بها بشكل فعال لتحمل الملوحة في Sporobolus، من خﻻل ربط بيانات إفراز مع بيانات مقاومه الملوحة مع دراسة أخرى:)٣( تحديد اﻻختﻻفات الشكلية في بنية الغدة الملحية بين اﻷكثر واﻷقل مقاومة من خﻻل التراكيب الوراثية في كل صنف من النباتات المحلية للملوحة. تم تعريض خمسة وأربعين تركيب وراثي لـ ppm 15,000 صوديوم كلورليد ومن ثم تم حساب تركيز كل من اﻷيونات المفرزة +Na+, Kو-Cl من اﻷوراق الناضجة باستخدام اللهب المضيء و أقطاب انتقائية ﻷيون الكلورايد. كما تم وصف العوامل المختلفة كـ mmol ion g -1 لكل وزن ورقة. وتم مقارنة أربعة تركيبات جينية تحت تاثير الملوحة والﻻملوحة للكثافة الغدة الملحية، وحجم الغدة الملحية والتشكل عبر المجهر اﻹلكتروني. وقد لوحظت الغدد الملحية ثنائية الخلوية على حد سواء سطوح اﻷوراق وجحوظ الغدد للـS. arabicus كانت آكثر في الغدد الملحية عن S. spicatus، وفي المقابل كان لدى S. spicatus أعلى نسبة معدل فرز لﻷيونات. وقد لوحظ أن معدﻻت إفراز اﻷيونات وكثابتها تتناسب بإيجابيه مع مقاومه الملوحة. هذا يشير إلى أن نشاط إفراز اﻷيونات هو آلية مهمة لمقاومه الملوحة وكثافة الغدة هو سمة محتملة هامة لتحديد تحمل الملوحة بين اثنين من اﻷنواع Sporobolus. ويمكن استخدام المعلومات المكتسبة من هذه الدراسة كأساس ﻹجراء بحوث أخرى في المستقبل تهدف إلى فهم آليات مقاومه الملوحة في النباتات المحلية للملوحة في اﻹمارات العربية المتحدة. مفاهيم البحث الرئيسية: اﻹكثار، )chloridoid) ، إفراز، النباتات الملحية ، الملوحة ، الغدة الملحية. x Acknowledgements I would like to express profound gratitude and sincere appreciation to Dr. Synan AbuQamar for his valuable guidance, motivation, constant moral support, and being prompt and supportive at all times, and encouragement extended to me to accomplish my research. I’m extremely grateful to Dr. Kenneth Marcum, for introducing this research study, the knowledge and experiences that he conveyed to me and his kind supervision. I would like to express sincere thanks to my Co-supervisor, Dr. Khaled El- Tarabily for his sincere and valuable guidance, generous advice and support and encouragement extended to me. In addition, my sincere gratitude extends to Dr. Tarek Youssef for discussions, guidance and knowledge he shared for completing SEM studies; and Prof. Taoufik Zoubedi who taught me statistics and his generous advice for statistical analysis. I would like to thank Dr. Taoufik Ksiksi (internal examiner) and Dr. Ali El- Keblawy (external examiner) for agreeing to serve as my master thesis examining committee members, and for their valuable comments and suggestions which made my thesis even better. I have great pleasure in expressing my deep sense of profound gratitude to staff members at Al Salamat research station, Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority for facilitating infrastructures to carry out the research. I’m also grateful to all the lecturers in the Department of Biology, College of Science and all other lecturers in Environmental Sciences master program who taught me, for their guidance towards the successful completion of my graduate xi studies in UAEU. My thanks are extended to the College of Graduate Studies, and also UAEU library for providing me with the relevant reference material. I greatly appreciate the sincere assistance of Mr. Saeed Tariq (medical research specialist) for SEM studies, Mr. Saad Ismail and Mr. Abou Messallam (lab specialists) for ion analysis. I would like to thank my friends and colleagues at
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