Abstract
Although the salt resistance mechanisms in plants have received much consideration for many years, varieties' differences affecting salt resistance are still unsettled. Within the Ocimum genus there occur about 200 species in different varieties and forms. A pot experiment was performed to better understand salt stress responses in crop plants; we compared the impacts of salinity stress on growth and physio-biochemical characteristics in three varieties of basil (Ocimum basilicum) var. odoratus, O. b. var. alba and O. b. var. purpurascens) grown under four levels of salinity stress (0, 50, 100, and 150 mM NaCl) with mycorrhiza (Glomus clarum Nicol. & Schenck) or without. Results showed significant differences within salinity treatments in all cultivars studied. In this study, the biomass production and physio-biochemical parameters of all cultivars reduced with raised salinity levels except concentration of reducing sugars, sodium, and proline at 150 mM of NaCl, only the variety 'purpurascens' didn't show reduction and observed resistant against severe salinity. The colonization of arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi enhanced the biomass production and accumulation of nutrients, reducing sugars, total soluble carbohydrates, photosynthetic pigments, proline, and protein by reducing Na. This study should help understand the function of AMF fungi in basil cultivars' tolerance to salinity stress.