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Profile photo of Ronny Berndtsson

Ronny Berndtsson

Professor, Dep Director, MECW Dep Scientific Coordinator

Profile photo of Ronny Berndtsson

Vicia—Micronucleus Test Application for Saline Irrigation Water Risk Assessment

Author

  • Dalila Souguir
  • Ronny Berndtsson
  • Sourour Mzahma
  • Hanen Filali
  • Mohamed Hachicha

Summary, in English

In view of climate change, increasing soil salinity is expected worldwide. It is therefore important to improve prediction ability of plant salinity effects. For this purpose, brackish/saline irrigation water from two areas in central and coastal Tunisia was sampled. The water samples were classified as C3 (EC: 2.01–2.24 dS m−1) and C4 (EC: 3.46–7.00 dS m−1), indicating that the water was questionable and not suitable for irrigation, respectively. The water samples were tested for their genotoxic potential and growth effects on Vicia faba seedlings. Results showed a decrease in mitotic index (MI) and, consequently, growth parameters concomitant to the appearance of micronucleus (MCN) and chromosome aberrations when the water salinity increased. Salt ion concentration had striking influence on genome stability and growth parameters. Pearson correlation underlined the negative connection between most ions in the water inappropriate for irrigation (C4) and MI as well as growth parameters. MI was strongly influenced by Mg2+, Na+, Cl−, and to a less degree Ca2+, K+, and SO42−. Growth parameters were moderately to weakly affected by K+ and Ca2+, respectively. Regarding MCN, a very strong positive correlation was found for MCN and K+. Despite its short-term application, the Vicia-MCN Test showed a real ability to predict toxicity induced by salt ions con-firming that is has a relevant role in hazard identification and risk assessment of salinity effects.

Department/s

  • Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES)
  • MECW: The Middle East in the Contemporary World
  • Division of Water Resources Engineering
  • LTH Profile Area: Water

Publishing year

2022-02-01

Language

English

Publication/Series

Plants

Volume

11

Issue

3

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

MDPI AG

Topic

  • Agricultural Science, Forestry and Fisheries
  • Earth and Related Environmental Sciences

Keywords

  • Cell division
  • Micronucleus
  • Plant aberration
  • Plant growth
  • Salinity
  • Vicia faba

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2223-7747