Response of chlorophyll fluorescence to salinity stress on the early growth stage of the soybean plants (Glycine max L.)

The chlorophyll fluorescence in response to salinity stress of soybean plants in spectral range 650–850 nm and slow transient fluorescence kinetics were investigated using remote sensing techniques. The soybean plants were grown under controlled conditions as water cultures on nutrient solution of Helrigel. Salinity was performed at the stage of 2nd to 4th trifoliate expanded leaves by adding of NaCl in the nutrient solution at concentrations 40 mM and 80 mM. The chlorophyll fluorescence was registered by a multichannel fiber optic spectrometer USB2000 working in time-acquisition mode. As a source of actinic light, a light emitting diode with the maximum of the light output at 470 nm was used. The fluorescence spectra were registered subsequently in time at every 2 second. At least 40 spectra from each soybean leaf were obtained; the leaves being taken from 20 control plants and 20 plants treated with two NaCl concentrations. Measurements were conducted on the 14th day after treatment. Several indices such as fluorescence spectra area, halfwidth of the fluorescence spectral curve, and wavelength of spectrum maximum were used to characterize the differences between the normalized fluorescence spectra of leaves of control and treated plants. The Student t-criterion, discriminant analysis and derivative analysis were applied to estimate the statistical significance of the differences between the average values of the indices. The results revealed that the low NaCl concentration led to salinity tolerance while the high NaCl concentration caused salinity stress in the soybean plants.