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Foliar treatment with Lolium perenne (Poaceae) leaf extract alleviates salinity and nickel-induced growth inhibition in pea

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Abstract

The plants of pea (Pisum sativum L.) were grown under NaCl and/or NiCl2 stress, to comparatively evaluate stress-mitigating effects of pure proline and naturally proline-enriched Lolium perenne (L.) aqueous leaf extract. Both stress factors (salinity and nickel) significantly reduced plant biomass, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic activity, stomatal conductance, intercellular carbon dioxide (CO2) level, number of stomata, stomatal size, water-use efficiency, relative water content (RWC), and the membrane stability index (MSI). However, the proline and glycinebetaine contents, lipid peroxidation, electrolyte leakage, and activities of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, guaiacol peroxidase, and glutathione reductase) were significantly increased. Exogenously applied proline and Lolium perenne (LP) leaf extracts significantly overcame the nickel and/or salinity-induced toxic effects on growth, RWC, and various photosynthetic attributes. However, follow-up treatment with proline and LP-leaf-extract detoxified the stress caused by NiCl2 and/or NaCl, by suppressing lipid peroxidation and electrolyte leakage, accelerating the antioxidant enzyme activities, and improving the MSI, leaf/root proline, and glycinebetaine contents. LP-leaf-extract proved to be better than pure proline for improving growth, gas exchange parameters, osmolytes, RWC, and antioxidant enzyme activities. As LP-leaf-extract was enriched with a substantial amount of proline along with many other essential osmoprotectants, it was found to be as effective as pure proline in ameliorating growth, some major physiological attributes, and non-enzymatic and enzymatic antioxidant activities in the pea, under nickel and/or salinity stress. Thus, it could be used as an alternative inexpensive source of proline, to be used as a mitigating agent for protecting plants against the deleterious effects of nickel and/or salinity stress.

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Acknowledgments

The authors highly acknowledge the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan for their financial assistance vide Project No. 20-2315/NRPU/R&D/HEC/12 to conduct this investigation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Horticulture, University College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan

    Rashad Mukhtar Balal & Muhammad Adnan Shahid

  2. Department of Agronomy, University College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan

    Muhammad Mansoor Javaid & Hafiz Haider Ali

  3. Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences & Technology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, 60800, Pakistan

    Muhammad Akbar Anjum

  4. School of Integrative Plant Science, College of Agriculture and Life Science, Cornell University, New York, USA

    Neil Scott Mattson

  5. Centre for Soil and Applied Biology, Segura, University Campus of Espinardo, 30100, Murcia, Spain

    Francisco Garcia-Sanchez

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  1. Rashad Mukhtar Balal
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  2. Muhammad Adnan Shahid
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Correspondence to Rashad Mukhtar Balal.

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Balal, R.M., Shahid, M.A., Javaid, M.M. et al. Foliar treatment with Lolium perenne (Poaceae) leaf extract alleviates salinity and nickel-induced growth inhibition in pea. Braz. J. Bot 39, 453–463 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40415-016-0253-3

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