Date

Fall 12-8-2025

Advisor

Aniruddha Acharya

Program Director

Jamie Stacy

Document Type

Paper

Abstract

Salt stress is a significant challenge in food security. Factors such as erratic weather, fertilization practices, and irrigation practice have exacerbated the problem. Therefore, it is important to understand the effects of increased concentrations of salts in the soil that negatively affects plant health with cascading effect on human nutrition and health. For these reasons, this experiment investigated the impacts of NaCl stress on Raphanus sativus (var. Cherry Belle), which is more commonly known as radish. Radish was chosen as an experimental candidate due to their short life cycle, high nutrient content and close relation with members of other vegetables of Brassicaceae family. Several factors such as germination, growth, physiology, nutrient content, and gene expression were investigated in control and salt-stressed plants. The effect of different NaCl concentrations on germination of radish seeds were documented along with the effect of spiking with 100µM melatonin or 0.5 mM TEA or 5 mM EDTA. Through the germination experiment, it was discovered that germination declined as NaCl concentration increased, and this negative effect was compounded by the melatonin and EDTA treatments. TEA treatment had a positive effect in ameliorating NaCl stress. ICP-OES mineral analysis indicated increase in K, Na, and Al content of salt-stressed plants. Additional physiological analysis suggests that 100 mM NaCl treatment decreases relative water content of leaves of mature plants as compared to their counterparts that were not salt-stressed. Finally, RT-qPCR analysis revealed that NaCl stressed plants exhibited upregulation of SOD and PIP3 genes. The most notable complications discovered through this experimentation include excess accumulation of aluminum, diminished germination rates, and water loss for the plant. These findings also suggest that two mechanisms the plant may use to combat salt stress are upregulation of the SOD gene and the PIP3 gene. Future experiments including SynComs should investigate strategies to reduce the negative effect of salt stress and promote health of Raphanus sativus.

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