Salt-induced effects on physiological and biochemical characteristics of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa L.) growing in Salt Lake Urmia coasts

In order to manage water and saline lands, cultivation of salinity-tolerant cultivars such as quinoa is a very suitable option. Quinoa is able to grow in different environments and also has valuable medicinal and nutritional properties. To investigating the effect of different salinity levels on quinoa plant a factorial experiment in the form of a completely randomized design with four replications and salinity levels of 0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 mM of NaCl was conducted in the greenhouse of biology department at Urmia university, Urmia, Iran. With the increase of salinity stress, the content of sodium and chloride increased and their maximum amount (8.04 and 31.18 mg. g -1 DW, respectively) was observed at the concentration of 400 mmol NaCl. Also, the highest amount of potassium (15.59 mg. g -1 DW) was observed in the control samples and its content decreased with the increase in saline stress. The amount of soluble sugar, total protein, malondialdehyde and peroxidase enzyme activity (49.6 µg.g -1 FW, 23.07 mg.g -1 FW, 29.4 nmol.g -1 FW, 19.1 µmol. min -1. g FW, respectively) showed a significant increase with the increase of salinity stress levels. Also, the highest amount of phenol, catalase enzyme activity and hydrogen peroxide content (respectively 68.7 mg GAE.g -1 DW, 722.9 nmol.min-1. g -1 FW and 2.19 µg.g -1 FW) It was observed in concentrations of 200 and 300 mM salt. In general, the quinoa plant can be a good choice for salty and low-yielding lands.