Role of salicylic acid in regulating ethylene and physiological characteristics for alleviating salinity stress on germination, growth and yield of sweet pepper

PeerJ

article

Wazir Ahmed¹  Muhammad Imran¹  Muhammad Yaseen²  Tanveer ul Haq¹  Muhammad Usman Jamshaid¹  Shah Rukh¹  Rao Muhammad Ikram⁴  Muqarrab Ali⁴  Anser Ali⁵  Mudassar Maqbool⁵  Muhammad Arif¹  Mahmood Alam Khan⁶ 

[1] Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, MNS-University of Agriculture;Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad;Department of Environmental Geosciences National Centre of Excellence in Geology University of Peshawar;Department of Agronomy, MNS-University of Agriculture;Department of Agronomy, Ghazi University;Institute of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, MNS-University of Agriculture

关键词: Antioxidant activity;    Ethylene;    Salicylic acid;    Sweet pepper;    Salinity;    Fertilizer use efficiency;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.8475

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDuring a preliminary study, effects of 0, 20, 40, and 60 mM NaCl salinity were assessed on germination rate in relation to electrolyte leakage (EL) in sweet pepper. Results explored significant rises in ethylene evolution from seeds having more EL. It was, therefore, hypothesized that excessive ethylene biosynthesis in plants due to salinity stress might be a root cause of low crop productivity. As salicylic acid is one of the potent ethylene inhibitors, thus SA was used to combat effects of ethylene produced under salinity stress of 60 mM NaCl on different physiological and morphological characteristics of sweet pepper.MethodologyThe effect of 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.6 mM SA was evaluated on seed germination, growth and yield of sweet pepper cv. Yolo wonder at salinity stress on 60 mM NaCl. Seeds were primed with SA concentrations and incubated till 312 h in an incubator to study germination. Same SA concentrations were sprayed on foliage of plants grown in saline soil (60 mM NaCl).ResultsSeeds primed by 0.2 to 0.3 mM SA improved germination rate by 33% due to suppression of ethylene from 3.19 (control) to 2.23–2.70 mg plate−1. Electrolyte leakage reduced to 20.8–21.3% in seeds treated by 0.2–0.3 mM SA compared to 39.9% in untreated seeds. Results also explored that seed priming by 0.3 mM improved TSS, SOD and chlorophyll contents from 13.7 to 15.0 mg g−1 FW, 4.64 to 5.38 activity h−1 100 mg−1 and 89 to 102 ug g−1 compared to untreated seeds, respectively. Results also explore that SA up to 0.2 mM SA applied on plant foliage improved LAI (5–13%), photosynthesis (4–27%), WUE (11–57%), dry weight (5–20%), SOD activity (4–20%) and finally fruit yield (4–20%) compared to untreated plants by ameliorating effect of 60 mM NaCl. Foliar application of SA also caused significant increase in nutrient use efficiency due to significant variations in POD and SOD activities.ConclusionSalicylic acid suppressed ethylene evolution from germinating seeds up to 30% under stress of 60 mM NaCl due to elevated levels of TSS and SOD activity. Foliar application of SA upgraded SOD by lowering POD activity to improve NUE particularly K use efficiency at salinity stress of 60 mM NaCl. Application of 0.2 and 0.3 mM SA emerged as the most effective concentrations of SA for mitigating 60 mM NaCl stress on different physiological and morphological characteristics of sweet pepper.

【 授权许可】

CC BY