Exogenous salicylic acid alleviates water stress in watermelon plants |
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Authors: | Joanderson Marques Silva Gabriel Barbosa da Silva Júnior Aurenivia Bonifácio Alexson Filgueiras Dutra Renato de Mello Prado Francisco de Alcântara Neto Alan Mario Zuffo Rafael Silva Melo Tássyla Lohanne de Sousa Pereira Ricardo Silva de Sousa |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Plant Science, Campus Ministro Petrônio Portella, Center of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Piaui, Teresina, Brazil;2. Department of Biology, Center of Natural Science, Campus Ministro Petrônio Portella, Federal University of Piaui, Teresina, Brazil;3. School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, Paulo State University UNESP, São Paulo, Brazil;4. Department of Agronomy, State University of Maranhão, Balsas, Brazil;5. Department of Agricultural and Soil Engineering, Campus Ministro Petrônio Portella, Center of Agricultural Sciences, Federal University of Piaui, Teresina, Brazil |
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Abstract: | Salicylic acid (SA) has been considered to attenuate the effects of abiotic stresses on plants, including water deficit that intensely affects the growth and production of plants. The goal of this work was to evaluate the role of SA in the alleviation of water stress in watermelon seedlings on a morphophysiological and biochemical level. The experiment consisted of application of SA at concentrations of 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.0 μmol L−1 to leaves of watermelon seedlings grown in three levels of water retention (100%, 75% and 50% WRL). To evaluate the effect on morphophysiological and biochemical aspects, the plant height, leaf area, shoot and root dry weight, chlorophyll index, relative water content, electrolyte leakage, protein content, amino acids, proline, carbohydrates, sucrose and starch concentration variables were determined. All variables were influenced by the SA concentrations and WRL, with statistically significant interaction between these factors for all except root dry weight. SA promotes increases in the concentration of organic solutes and reduces the rate of electrolyte leakage in watermelon seedlings, thus, supporting metabolism and growth of plants under stress conditions resulting from water deficit. |
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Keywords: | abiotic stress Citrullus lanatus mitigation organic solutes phytohormone |
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