Abstract
The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of salicylic acid (SA) pretreatment on the activities of antioxidant enzymes and some biochemical attributes in maize (Zea mays L.) seedling leaves exposed to cadmium (Cd) stress. The Cd toxicity in maize leaves was revealed by reduction of ascorbate and cysteine concentrations. However, a remarkable increase of such non-enzymatic antioxidants concentrations was noticed on the pretreatment with SA. Cadmium- induced oxidative stress also showed a pronounced increase in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), lipid peroxidation, electrolyte leakage (El) and proline production. The important point to be emphasized here is that the pretreatment with SA attenuated the adverse effects of Cd on these attributes. Cadmium-induced activities of some key antioxidant enzymes, peroxidase (POD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) was further increased on the exposure to SA. While the lower catalase (CAT) activity dues to Cd toxicity was increased by SA pretreatment.
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