Morphological and biochemical characterization of Ferula assafoetida in response to salt stress

Ferula assafoetida is one of the most important medicinal plants from family of Apiaceae. Salt tolerance of three accessions of Ferula assafoetida namely Kashmar, Tabas and Boshroyeh were investigated. To determine seed germination percentage, seeds were transferred to cold pretreatment (4-5˚C) for 19 days. Then seedlings were transferred to culture medium to grow. Seedlings were again transferred to hydroponic conditions with different concentrations of NaCl. The experiment was conducted based on completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 3 replications per treatment. Results showed that the level of salt tolerance for three accessions of the species was 100 mol l-1. by increasing salt concentration level, shoot length, root length, shoot and root fresh and dry weights were decreased. Concentrations of K+, Na+ and Ca+2 (after 15 days) and proline accumulation (after 1, 5, 10 and 15 days) showed significant differences compared to control in response to salt stress. In response to salt stress the most reduction was showed in Kashmar accession and the lowest reduction was showed in Boshroyeh accession.