BACKGROUND Salinity is a significant environmental stress factor limiting crops productivity. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) has a natural tolerance to salinity stress, making it an interesting study object in stress biology research. In the present study, for the first time the effect of salinity stress on barley inflorescence developmental stages was investigated. Five spring barley genotypes irrigated with saline water (12.5 ds/m NaCl) were compared to controls treated with normal tap water. We measured abscisic acid (ABA) concentrations in the apical, central and basal sections of the immature inflorescence at green anther (GA) stage. The role of ABA in spikelet primordia development, atrophy and abortion and final yield was evaluated. RESULTS A time course experiment starting from double ridge until green anther (GA) stages revealed that salinity reduced the length of spike developmental stages in all genotypes causing shortened of the plant life cycle. The shortened plant life cycle negatively affected plant height and number of tillers/plant. Salinity also affected spikelet primordia development. In both control and salinity treated plants apical spikelet abortion started in late awn primordium (AP) stage. However, under salinity treatment, significantly more spikelets were aborted, thus directly affecting plant yield potential. ABA, which plays a role in the spikelet/floret abortion process, was markedly elevated in the base and apex of salt treated spikes correlating with an increased spikelet abortion in these regions. CONCLUSIONS Overall, salinity treatment reduced all plant and yield-related parameters investigated and turned some of the correlations among them from positive to negative or vice versa. Investigations of ABA role in floral development and phase duration of barley spike showed that, ABA regulates the spikelet/floret abortion process affecting the yield potential under salinity and control conditions.

中文翻译：

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穗状花序发育阶段和ABA在小穗原基流产中的作用有助于大麦的最终产量（大麦）。

背景技术盐度是限制作物生产力的重要环境压力因素。大麦（Hordeum vulgare L.）对盐分胁迫具有天然耐受性，使其成为胁迫生物学研究中一个有趣的研究对象。在本研究中，首次研究了盐分胁迫对大麦花序发育阶段的影响。将用盐水（12.5 ds / m NaCl）灌溉的五个春季大麦基因型与用普通自来水处理的对照进行比较。我们在绿色花药（GA）阶段测量了未成熟花序的顶端，中央和基底部分的脱落酸（ABA）浓度。评估了ABA在小穗原基发育，萎缩和流产以及最终产量中的作用。结果从双垄直到绿花药（GA）阶段的时程实验表明，盐度降低了所有基因型的穗状花序发育阶段的长度，从而缩短了植物的生命周期。缩短的植物生命周期会对株高和分till /株数产生负面影响。盐度也影响小穗原基发育。在对照和盐度处理过的植物中，顶端小穗流产始于晚芒原基（AP）阶段。然而，在盐度处理下，明显有更多的小穗被中止，从而直接影响植物的产量潜力。在小穗/小花流产过程中起作用的ABA，在盐处理穗的基部和根尖明显升高，与这些区域中小穗流产的增加相关。结论总体而言，盐度处理减少了所研究的所有与植物和产量相关的参数，并使其中的一些相关性从正变负，反之亦然。对ABA在大麦穗花发育和阶段持续时间中的作用的研究表明，ABA调节小穗/小花的流产过程，在盐度和控制条件下影响产量潜力。