2.1 Plant Material
Seeds of Spartina alterniflora (SA ) were collected fromSan-San Lake in South East Shanghai city at the end of November
in 2015 and 2016. The cleaned spikelets were stored in wet tissue
(cloth) in sealed plastic at 4°C in the refrigerator. SA mature
seeds require two to three months, after-ripening, wet storage in cold
(stratification) to break dormancy (Garbisch & McIninch, 1992) and they
remain viable for about one year. Seeds of SV were rinsed several
times with tap water and then transferred to Petri-dishes and covered
with water till germinate. After germination, they were transferred into
potted soil. When the young seedlings of SA were about 2 cm in
length and started greening, they were removed from the glass petri
dishes. Trays containing SA seedlings were kept indoor at a
temperature between 25~27°C, under fluorescent light at
a PPFD of 80 - 120 μmol m-2 s-1 with
a photoperiod of 16/8 hour (light/dark). Two-month old healthy plants
with large expanded leaves where transferred to a hydroponic system for
salt treatment. For SV , dry seeds were directly sown into wet
potted soil, which was maintained wet by spraying water daily on the
soil till the seeds germinated. SV grew under the same
photoperiod and temperature conditions as SA . Nutrient was added
routinely to ensure healthy growing plants before transferring them to
hydroponic medium for salt stress treatment.