Abstract
Salinity is one of the most important abiotic stresses that affect vegetative growth, reproductive yield, biomass distribution, and physiological parameters of many crop plants. A study was conducted to evaluate these parameters in soybean plants (cv. Peking and LS678), following seed priming with benzyladenine (2.16 µM). Soybean plants were subjected to salinity stress imposed by irrigation with a high amount of NaCl (250 mM) solution under greenhouse conditions. Results showed that exogenously applied benzyladenine dramatically improved growth, biomass, and yield parameters as a priming solution compared to hydroprimed plants exposed to similar salt stress conditions. High reduction in mean photosynthetic pigments (0.87–1.88), carbohydrates (24.942–27.091%), phenolic content (2.28–2.33), flavonoids (2.37–2.11), and antioxidant capacity (34.5–37.2%) was observed in plants developed from hydroprimed seeds under salt conditions. These findings suggest that priming of seeds with 2.16 µM benzyladenine improved the vegetative, reproductive, and physiological responses of soybeans under induced salinity stress.
Highlights
Such exogenously applied plant hormones, for example, naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 6-benzyladenine (BA), have been used to improve vegetative growth and yields by foliar applications [8, 9]
No report could be found on the use of BA and the seed priming method to improve the growth of soybean under high salt stress conditions. e objective of this study was, to evaluate the effects of an optimum amount of BA on the growth, yields, biomass, and physiological parameters of soybean plants subjected to a high level of salinity stress
Plant growth inhibition was more pronounced in soybeans subjected to salinity stress without hormonal priming. e related salinity stress effects in soybean were reported by Amirjani [5] and by Hamayun et al [6] for cultivar Hwangkeumkong
Summary
Salinity is one of the most important abiotic stresses that affect vegetative growth, reproductive yield, biomass distribution, and physiological parameters of many crop plants. Results showed that exogenously applied benzyladenine dramatically improved growth, biomass, and yield parameters as a priming solution compared to hydroprimed plants exposed to similar salt stress conditions. High reduction in mean photosynthetic pigments (0.87–1.88), carbohydrates (24.942–27.091%), phenolic content (2.28–2.33), flavonoids (2.37–2.11), and antioxidant capacity (34.5–37.2%) was observed in plants developed from hydroprimed seeds under salt conditions. Ese findings suggest that priming of seeds with 2.16 μM benzyladenine improved the vegetative, reproductive, and physiological responses of soybeans under induced salinity stress. Is study elaborated on NaCl effects on growth, mineral composition, proline content, and antioxidant enzyme activity which were dramatically reduced by different levels of salt stress (10, 100, and 200 mM NaCl).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
