Effectiveness of different methods of salicylic acid application on growth characteristics of tomato seedlings under salinity

Abstract

Background: Soil salinity is a real challenge in nowadays crop production in many regions. Various strategies have been applied to increase plant salinity tolerance. Salicylic acid (SA) frequently has been reported to increase plant salinity tolerance; however, the comparative efficiency of soil (root) or foliar application of SA has not been well tested yet. In this study, the effects of root or leaf pretreatment, and leaf treatment with 100 mg L −1 salicylic acid were evaluated on growth characteristics of tomato seedlings (Solanum lycopersicum Mill) under salinity stress. The plants were grown 3 weeks in sand that were fed with Hoagland nutrient solution with or without 100 mM NaCl. Results: The results showed that salinity significantly reduced tomato seedling growth and traits of plant height, leaf area, shoot fresh weight, and nutrient concentration of potassium, calcium, iron and zinc compared to control plants. However, leaf SPAD value, root fresh and dry weights, leaf concentration of sodium, proline and soluble sugars were significantly increased under 100 mM NaCl salinity compared to control plants. Application of salicylic acid particularly by foliar pretreatment increased the tomato plant growth and those traits that were reduced by NaCl salinity. Application of SA, particularly foliar pretreatment, also increased the root fresh and dry weights, leaf proline and soluble sugars concentrations as compared with salinity alone. Foliar SA pretreatment significantly increased leaf K and Fe concentrations, whereas leaf Ca was significantly increased by either root or leaf pretreatment with SA under salinity. Conclusion: The results indicate that the most to least effective method of SA application was leaf pretreatment, root pretreatment and leaf treatment, respectively, to recover the reduced growth parameters of tomato plant under salinity stress.

SA-Mediated Regulation and Control of Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Rice

“…However, the effect of SA is greatly dependent on plant species, method of application, dose and environment. Therefore any application of SA below the threshold may not elicit any noticeable response in plants while amounts exceeding this threshold may have negative effects on the plant [ 91 ]. It is possible that the concentration used in the Deus et al [ 90 ] study was insufficient to induce a response in rice.…”

Attenuation of salt stress on the physiology and production of bell peppers by treatment with salicylic acid

“…Salicylic acid (SA) is a water-soluble secondary metabolite and a phenolic compound produced by the plant organism (Souri & Tohidloo, 2019). It acts in the regulation of growth, development, ripening, and as a bio-messenger or signaling agent in plants that promotes tolerance to various biotic and abiotic stresses (Sheteiwy et al, 2019).…”

Effects of Chitosan and Salicylic Acid on Physiological Characteristics of Eggplant (Solanum melongena)

“…It is biosynthesized from the two independent pathways, isochorismate synthase-and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) dependent pathways (Dempsey and Klessig, 2017) that affects various processes in plant systems metabolically and physiologically (Jayakannan et al, 2015;Vicente and Plasencia, 2011). Salicylic acid also influences the flower induction, transpiration, ion uptake, enhancement of chlorophyll level and photosynthesis rate (Amanullah et al, 2010;Sahu, 2013;Souri and Tohidloo, 2019). Besides, it is also able to protect the plants under stressful conditions where summer squash showed an increased in yield under salinestress condition in Egypt (El-Mageed et al, 2016).…”