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Salicylic acid and calcium-induced protection of wheat against salinity

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Abstract

Soil salinity is one of the important environmental factors that produce serious agricultural problems. The objective of the present study was to determine the interactive effect of salicylic acid (SA) and calcium (Ca) on plant growth, photosynthetic pigments, proline (Pro) concentration, carbonic anhydrase (CA) activity and activities of antioxidant enzymes of Triticum aestivum L. (cv. Samma) under salt stress. Application of 90 mM of NaCl reduced plant growth (plant height, fresh weight (FW) and dry weight (DW), chlorophyll (Chl) a, Chl b, CA activity) and enhanced malondialdehyde (MDA) and Pro concentration. However, the application of SA or Ca alone as well as in combination markedly improved plant growth, photosynthetic pigments, Pro concentration, CA activity and activities of antioxidant enzymes peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) under salt stress. It was, therefore, concluded that application of SA and Ca alone as well as in combination ameliorated the adverse effect of salinity, while combined application proved more effective to reduce the oxidative stress generated by NaCl through reduced MDA accumulation, Chl a/b ratio and Chls degradation and enhanced activities of antioxidant enzymes.

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Abbreviations

FW:

Fresh weight

DW:

Dry weight

Chl:

Chlorophyll

Pro:

Proline

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

CA:

Carbonic anhydrase

CAT:

Catalase

POD:

Peroxidase

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

GR:

Glutathione reductase

APX:

Ascorbate peroxidase

EDTA:

Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid

NBT:

Nitro blue tetrazolium

NADPH:

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-oxidase

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Acknowledgements

We thank Professor Firoz Mohammad (Plant Physiology Section, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh) and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and critical reading of the manuscript. The financial support by the Deanship of Scientific Research of King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA though the Research Group No. RGP-VPP-153 is gratefully acknowledged.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Mohamed H. Al-Whaibi, Manzer H. Siddiqui & Mohammed O. Basalah

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  1. Mohamed H. Al-Whaibi
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  2. Manzer H. Siddiqui
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  3. Mohammed O. Basalah
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Correspondence to Manzer H. Siddiqui.

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Al-Whaibi, M.H., Siddiqui, M.H. & Basalah, M.O. Salicylic acid and calcium-induced protection of wheat against salinity. Protoplasma 249, 769–778 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-011-0322-1

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