## Results and Discussion
### Nitrate and Chlorophyll a Contents, Phenolic Composition and Total Phenolic Content  
From a botanical point of view, vegetable crops belonging to the family of _Lamiaceae_ (i.e., basil, thymme) are classified as high nitrate accumulating species (2500-5000 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\) fw [34]). This was the case in the current study, since the nitrate contents of green and red perilla under non-saline control were 2825 and 2780 mg\(\cdot\)kg\({}^{-1}\) fw, respectively, with no significant differences between the two perilla genotypes (Table 3). Interestingly, the addition of NaCl in the nutrient solution could be considered a useful tool for mitigating the high accumulation of anti-nutrients (nitrate) in both perilla cultivars, due to the well-known antagonism effect between these two monovalent anions (NO\({}_{3}\)\({}^{-}\) and Cl\({}^{-}\)). In our experiment, concentrations of both sodium and chloride in the root zone decreased the nitrate uptake, translocation and accumulation in perilla leaves by 34%. A putative mechanism behind the decrease in nitrate concentration could be the reduced plant growth rate and development, leading to a down regulation of net nitrate uptake through a lower request for nitrogen [35; 36]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Source of Variance**} & **Nitrate** & **Chlorophyll a** & **Rosmamic Acid** & **Caffeic Acid** & **Sinapic Acid** & **Total Polyphenols** \\  & **(mg-kg\({}^{-1}\)tw)** & **(mg-g\({}^{-1}\)tw)** & **(mg-g\({}^{-1}\)tw)** & **(mg-g\({}^{-1}\)tw)** & **(mg-g\({}^{-1}\)tw)** & **(mg-g\({}^{-1}\)tw)** \\ \hline Genotype (G) & NS & ** & NS & ** & ** \\ Salinity (S) & ** & ** & * & NS & NS & ** \\ C \(\times\) S & * & NS & NS & NS & ** \\ Genotype & & & & & & \\ Green & \(1937.1\pm 209.1\) a & \(64.1\pm 5.1\) b & \(15.7\pm 1.4\) a & \(0.3\pm 0.0\) a & \(0.1\pm 0.0\) b & \(636.6\pm 3.0\) b \\ Red & \(1727.6\pm 209.0\) a & \(81.3\pm 8.2\) a & \(15.6\pm 1.8\) a & \(0.3\pm 0.0\) a & \(1.2\pm 0.0\) a & \(93.7\pm 2.0\) a \\ Salinity (mM NaCl) & & & & & & \\
1 & \(2803.2\pm 205.2\) a & \(93.3\pm 12.6\) a & \(9.7\pm 2.0\) b & \(0.3\pm 0.0\) a & \(0.7\pm 0.3\) a & \(718.8\pm 6.6\) c \\
10 & \(1889.7\pm 186.3\) b & \(73.0\pm 7.1\) b & \(18.4\pm 27.2\) a & \(0.3\pm 0.0\) a & \(0.7\pm 0.3\) a & \(89.7\pm 6.0\) a \\
20 & \(1299.6\pm 123.4\) c & \(65.1\pm 6.6\) b & \(16.5\pm 0.8\) a & \(0.3\pm 0.0\) a & \(0.6\pm 0.2\) a & \(82.9\pm 6.2\) b \\
30 & \(1366.8\pm 106.3\) c & \(58.8\pm 6.5\) b & \(18.1\pm 0.5\) a & \(0.3\pm 0.0\) a & \(0.6\pm 0.3\) a & \(703.3\pm 8.3\) c \\ G \(\times\) S & & & & & & \\ Green-1 mM NaCl & \(2780.9\pm 397.3\) a & \(74.6\pm 0.6\) a & \(12.1\pm 3.4\) a & \(0.4\pm 0.0\) a & \(0.1\pm 0.0\) a & \(57.4\pm 2.3\) f \\ Green-10 mM NaCl & \(2259.3\pm 99.3\) a & \(71.4\pm 9.9\) a & \(14.7\pm 3.4\) a & \(0.3\pm 0.1\) a & \(0.1\pm 0.0\) a & \(76.3\pm 0.7\) d \\ Green-20 mM NaCl & \(1473.0\pm 158.0\) b & \(60.1\pm 2.4\) a & \(17.5\pm 0.4\) a & \(0.4\pm 0.0\) a & \(0.1\pm 0.0\) a & \(68.9\pm 0.6\) e \\ Green-30 mM NaCl & \(1235.2\pm 52.0\) b & \(50.4\pm 7.9\) a & \(18.5\pm 1.0\) a & \(0.2\pm 0.0\) a & \(0.1\pm 0.0\) a & \(51.9\pm 2.7\) g \\ Red-1 mM NaCl & \(2825.6\pm 229.1\) a & \(112.0\pm 12.8\) a & \(7.2\pm 1.6\) a & \(0.3\pm 0.1\) a & \(1.3\pm 0.0\) & \(86.2\pm 1.5\) c \\ Red-10 mM NaCl & \(1460.1\pm 52.2\) b & \(74.6\pm 12.4\) a & \(22.1\pm 3.3\) a & \(0.4\pm 0.0\) a & \(1.2\pm 0.0\) a & \(103.1\pm 0.7\) a \\ Red-20 mM NaCl & \(1126.2\pm 145.3\) b & \(70.1\pm 6.4\) a & \(15.5\pm 1.5\) a & \(0.3\pm 0.1\) a & \(1.1\pm 0.1\) a & \(97.0\pm 0.3\) b \\ Red-30 mM NaCl & \(1498.5\pm 191.2\) b & \(67.5\pm 4.9\) a & \(17.4\pm 0.5\) a & \(0.3\pm 0.1\) a & \(1.1\pm 0.1\) a & \(88.7\pm 1.0\) c \\ \hline \end{tabular}  
* Nonsignificant or significant at \(p\geq 0.05\), \(0.01\), and \(0.001\), respectively. Different letters within each column indicate significant differences according to [PERSON]’s multiple-range test (\(p=0.05\)). All data are expressed as mean \(\pm\) standard error, \(\pi=3\).  
\end{table}