Abstract. The effect of salt, used for de-icing highways, on plant growth, biomass production and selected parameters of chlorophyll fluorescence was studied in three cvs of ornamental amaranths.

The effect of salinity on biomass accumulation
and chlorophyll fluorescence in plants of three cultivars of ornamental amaranth

Summary

The aims of this work were to study the effect of de-icing salt on three cvs. of Amaranthus sp. plants by determination of (i) biomass production and (ii) selected parameters of chlorophyll fluorescence. Ten-week-old hydroponically grown plants of Amaranthus sp. cvs. ‘Cooper Mountain’, ‘Monarch’ and ‘Pony Tails’ were exposed for 16 days to 0 (control), 1 and 3 g salt·dm^-3 used for de-icing roads. Growth of plants of all cvs was inhibited and their both fresh and dry weights were reduced. Shortly after exposure (1 day) F_v/F_m and Yield were greater than in control but along with exposure to salt the efficiency of photosynthetic apparatus was lowered, which well corresponds to the reduced biomass production.