Abstract
The tomato crop has great economic and nutritional importance; however, it can be adversely affected by salt stress. The objective of this research is to quantify the agronomic and biochemical responses of tomato plants developed under salt stress with the foliar application of copper nanoparticles. Four treatments were evaluated: foliar application of copper nanoparticles (250 mg L−1) with or without salt stress (50 mM NaCl), salt stress, and an absolute control. Saline stress caused severe damage to the development of tomato plants; however, the damage was mitigated by the foliar application of copper nanoparticles, which increased performance and improved the Na+/K+ ratio. The content of Cu increased in the tissues of tomato plants under salinity with the application of Cu nanoparticles, which increased the phenols (16%) in the leaves and the content of vitamin C (80%), glutathione (GSH) (81%), and phenols (7.8%) in the fruit compared with the control. Similarly, the enzyme activity of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) increased in leaf tissue by 104%, 140%, 26%, 8%, and 93%, respectively. Foliar spraying of copper nanoparticles on tomatoes under salinity appears to induce stress tolerance to salinity by stimulating the plant’s antioxidant mechanisms.
Highlights
Plants are subjected to numerous stresses during their development that harm their productivity.Salinity is an abiotic stressor of great significance since it affects about 45 million ha of irrigated soils, reducing the quantitative and qualitative production of crops [1]
In tomato plants under saline conditions, the decrease in production can be attributed to fluctuations in the partition of biomass [25] since the energy required to control stress is greater than that required for the generation of biomass
The above differs from the findings reported by Hernández-Hernández et al [24], who cited an increase in the content of photosynthetic pigments after applying Cu NPs (100 mg) to tomato plants subjected to salt stress
Summary
Plants are subjected to numerous stresses during their development that harm their productivity.Salinity is an abiotic stressor of great significance since it affects about 45 million ha of irrigated soils, reducing the quantitative and qualitative production of crops [1]. The ionic species that can induce salinity are NaCl, Na2 SO4 , MgSO4 , CaSO4 , MgCl2 , KCl, and Na2 CO3 , with NaCl being the most prevalent salt and having a greater effect due to its dissociation into Na+ and Cl− [2]. These salts can cause osmotic and/or ionic alterations at the cellular level, interfering with the nutrition of plants and altering their growth and performance [3].
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