Salicylic-acid induced recovery ability in salt-stressed Hordeum vulgare plants

Abstract

Te recovery ability of barley plants from salt stress conditions was assessed using foliar application of salicylic acid (SA) ina study conducted under controlled conditions. Te barley plants (Hordeum vulgare L. Reyhan ) were subjected to saline water withvarying salinity levels (tap water 0.67 dS m 1 as control, 3, 6, 9, and 12 dS m 1) from 14 to 42 days afer sowing (DAS). Ten the plantswere subjected to recovery treatments for 4 weeks, from 42 to 70 DAS. Te recovery treatments included: non-recovery (R0), irrigationwith tap water (R1), and irrigation with tap water + 2 foliar applications of SA with a 1-week interval (R2). Te results showed that saltstress decreased shoot and root dry weight, leaf K+ concentration, and photosynthesis rate, while it increased leaf Na+ concentrationand free proline, soluble protein, and chlorophyll contents. Tese reductions were related directly to stress intensity. Both recoverytreatments increased shoot dry weight, Na+ concentration, free proline, chlorophyll content, and photosynthetic rate. Compensation ofroot dry weight losses due to salt stress was observed only in R1 . However, for other measured traits recovery ability with R2 was greaterthan with R1. Overall, it appeared that although recovery treatments could not fully eliminate salt-induced damages, the recoverytreatment with SA proved to be very efective in alleviating the adverse efects of salt stress on barley plants.