Abstract

Salinity is persistently a decisive feature confining agricultural sustainability and food security in arid and semi-arid regions. Biochar (Bi) has been advocated as a means of lessening climate changes by sequestering carbon, concurrently supplying energy and rising crop productivity under normal or stressful conditions. Melatonin (Mt) has been shown to mediate numerous biochemical pathways and play important roles in mitigating multi-stress factors. However, their integrated roles in mitigating salt toxicity remain largely inexpressible. A completely randomized design was conducted to realize the remediation potential of Bi and/or Mt in attenuation salinity injury on borage plants by evaluating its effects on growth, water status, osmotic adjustment, antioxidant capacity, ions, and finally the yield. Salinity stress significantly decreased the plant growth and attributed yield when compared with non-salinized control plants. The depression effect of salinity on borage productivity was associated with the reduction in photosynthetic pigment and ascorbic acid (AsA) concentrations, potassium (K+) percentage, K+-translocation, and potassium/sodium ratio as well as catalase (CAT) activity. Additionally, borage plants’ water status was disrupted by salinity through decreasing water content (WC), relative water content (RWC), and water retention capacity (WTC), as well as water potential (Ψw), osmotic potential (Ψs), and turgor potential (Ψp). Moreover, salinity stress evoked oxidative bursts via hyper-accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA), as well as protein carbonyl, which is associated with membrane dysfunction. The oxidative burst was connected with the hyper-accumulation of sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl−) in plant tissues, coupled with osmolytes’ accumulation and accelerating plants’ osmotic adjustment (OA) capacity. The addition of Bi and/or Mt had a positive effect in mitigating salinity on borage plants by reducing Cl−, Na+, and Na+-translocation, and oxidative biomarkers as well as Ψw, Ψs, and Ψp. Moreover, Bi and/or Mt addition to salt-affected plants increased plant growth and yield by improving plant water status and OA capacity associated with the activation of antioxidant capacity and osmolytes accumulation as well as increased photosynthetic pigments, K+, and K+/Na+ ratio. Considering these observations, Bi and/or Mt can be used as a promising approach for enhancing the productivity of salt-affected borage plants due to their roles in sustaining water relations, rising solutes synthesis, progressing OA, improving redox homeostasis, and antioxidant aptitude.

Highlights

  • Borage (Borago officinalis L.; Boraginaceae), as a moderately salt-tolerant crop, represents an important medicinally cultivar that has about 20% γ-linolenic acid in the fixed oil [1]

  • Salinity considerably decreased the majority of plant water relation features, i.e., water content (WC) (22%), relative water content (RWC) (32%), Ψw (100%), Ψs (54%), Ψp (48%), and water retention capacity (WTC) (48%), and in the meantime enlarged water saturation deficit (WSD) (133%)

  • The modifications stimulate osmotic adjustment (OA) status to be more positive for the water absorption

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Summary

Introduction

Borage (Borago officinalis L.; Boraginaceae), as a moderately salt-tolerant crop, represents an important medicinally cultivar that has about 20% γ-linolenic acid in the fixed oil [1]. It is commonly utilized for treating kidney disorders and diarrhea, impeding cholesterol formation, treating Alzheimer’s disease and gastrointestinal weakness, and decreasing diabetes spin-offs [2]. The antioxidant solutes contribute to adjusting the antioxidant enzyme activities and preserving typical metabolic processes, raising plant stress tolerance [3,8,11]. Those so-called organic solutes decline water activity and decrease the cellular osmotic potential; turgor and turgor-associated progressions possibly will be preserved in stress occurrences. The accretion of free proline, soluble sugar, and protein in plant tissues can supply a sign of the level of stress tolerance provoked by osmoregulation [18]

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