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Effects of foliar applications of nitric oxide and salicylic acid on salt-induced changes in photosynthesis and antioxidative metabolism of cotton seedlings

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Abstract

Nitric oxide (NO) is a plant signaling compound known to mitigate key physiological processes and salicylic acid (SA) is considered to be a signaling molecule that plays a key role in growth, development, and defense responses in plants under stress conditions. This work investigated the effects of sodium nitroprusside (SNP, a donor of NO) and SA on salt-tolerance of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) seedlings by examining growth, photosynthetic performance, total osmoregulation substance content, antioxidative enzymes and H+-ATPase enzyme subjected to 100 mM NaCl. Addition of 100 mM NaCl inhibited the growth and photosynthetic parameters of cotton seedlings, and dramatically increased the electrolyte leakage, the plant contents of proline, lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and Na. Furthermore, antioxidant enzyme activities were restrained. Foliar applications of 0.1 mM SNP or/and 0.1 mM SA led to increase in the growth rate and photosynthesis, including photosystem II, net photosynthetic rate and transpiration rate, improvement of reactive oxygen species-scavenging enzymes activities and reduction of H2O2 accumulation in cotton seedlings induced by NaCl. In addition, membrane transport and function were facilitated by decreasing leaf electrolyte leakage, improving ion absorption and activating the osmotic-regulated substances metabolic. Further investigation also showed that SNP and SA alleviated the inhibition of H+-ATPase in plasma membrane induced by NaCl. The present study showed that foliar application of SNP and SA alone mitigated the adverse effect of salinity, while the combined application proved to be even more effective in alleviating the adverse effects of NaCl stress.

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Abbreviations

CAT:

Catalase

H2O2 :

Hydrogen peroxide

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

NO:

Nitric oxide

\( {\text{O}}_{2}^{ - } \) :

Superoxide anion radical

POD:

Peroxidase

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

SNP:

Sodium nitroprusside

SA:

Salicylic acid

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Doctor Chengliang Li (RWTH Aachen University, Germany) for his critical reading and revision of the manuscript. Special acknowledgements are given to the editors and reviewers. This study was supported by Open Research Fund Program of Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Environmental Science for Yellow River Delta (Binzhou University), Project No. 2012KFJJ02.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resources and Environment, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, People’s Republic of China

    Shuang Liu, Yuanjie Dong, Linlin Xu & Jing Kong

  2. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Eco-Environmental Science for Yellow River Delta, Binzhou University, Binzhou, 256600, People’s Republic of China

    Yuanjie Dong

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  1. Shuang Liu
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Correspondence to Yuanjie Dong.

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Liu, S., Dong, Y., Xu, L. et al. Effects of foliar applications of nitric oxide and salicylic acid on salt-induced changes in photosynthesis and antioxidative metabolism of cotton seedlings. Plant Growth Regul 73, 67–78 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-013-9868-6

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