Mild salinity improves sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) quality

Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is cultivated mainly on saline soils. Low levels of salinity stimulate growth of this crop plant possibly due to production of broader leaves as sources of assimilates. In this work, six cultivars were studied under mild salinity (EC = 5.5 dS m-1) in a field experiment to analyse its effect on growth parameters and yield of storage root and sugar accumulation. An attempt was also made to determine the contributing role of photosynthetic gas exchange in response of sugar beet plants to salinity. Production of greater leaf area in salinized plants occurred only transitionally in the early growth period; in progression of the growing season it was decreased, and at 3rd harvest (100 days after treatment) it was significantly lower compared with control plants without cultivar differences. Leaf chlorophyll fluorescence, net photosynthesis rate, and stomatal conductance did not change by salinity significantly. Although, at the end of growth season, leaf area and potential photosynthesizing component of salinized plants on the basis of leaf area (LAR) or weight (LWR) were significantly lower than for control plants, weight of storage root and sugar content were up to 90 and 37% higher than in control plants, respectively. Consequently, a considerable higher yield under mild salinity conditions in sugar beet is not attributable to higher leaf area or, therefore, higher photosynthetic capacity of whole plants. Indeed, the storage roots benefit from lower dry matter and surface production of shoot during the late growing season (because of lower nitrogen assimilation and a slight drought stress of salinized plants) and a change in dry-matter partitioning in favor of roots takes place. However, a possible special effect of Na on carbon allocation for storage and structure and involvement of growth regulators in the change of root-shoot allometry could not be excluded.