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The Plymouth Student Scientist

Bethany Smerdon

Document Type

Biological and Marine Sciences Article

Abstract

Soil salinity is a major abiotic stressor limiting agricultural productivity. Many salt stress studies rely solely on sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions, despite not accurately representing natural saline conditions. This study investigated the stress response of Vicia faba to NaCl and marine aquarium salt (MAS) solutions to assess the impact of a more complex ionic composition on plant physiology. Plants were cultivated in a controlled greenhouse and treated with either NaCl, MAS, or rainwater (control) for up to 55 days. Growth parameters, water status, proline accumulation, chlorophyll content, and root nodule weight were measured to evaluate stress responses. The results indicate that the NaCl-treated plants experienced greater stress than both the control and MAS-treated plants, with reduced shoot growth, lower relative water content, and increased proline accumulation. The MAS-treated plants better maintained their water content and exhibited higher root nodule weight and chlorophyll content, suggesting enhanced nitrogen fixation and photosynthetic capacity. However, a miscalculation in treatment concentrations resulted in the MAS solution containing slightly less NaCl than intended, which may have influenced the results. Despite this, the findings still highlight the potential role of additional ions in mitigating salt stress and emphasis the need for more realistic salt stress methodologies in plant research. Understanding the influence of ions responsible for salinisation on nitrogen fixation and plant resilience could lead to improved strategies for crop stress tolerance. Future studies should expand this approach to field conditions and diverse crop species to develop more sustainable agricultural practices that reduce reliance on nitrogen fertilisers and improve yields in saline soils.

Publication Date

2025-12

Publication Title

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Volume

18

Issue

2

ISSN

1754-2383

Deposit Date

2025-12

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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