Abstract
The present study investigates the effect of Ulva lactuca extract as seed-priming agent for tomato plants under optimal and salinity stress conditions. The aims of this experiment were to assess the effect of seed priming using Ulva lactuca extract in alleviating the salinity stress tomato plants were subjected to, and to find out the possible mechanism of actions behind such a positive effect via means of fractionation of the crude extract and characterization. Salinity application decreased the plant biomass and altered different physiological traits of tomato. However, the application of Ulva lactuca methanol extract (ME) and its fractions (residual fraction (RF), chloroform fraction (CF), butanol fraction (BF), and hexane fraction (HF)) at 1 mg·mL−1 as seed priming substances attenuated the negative effects of salinity on tomato seedlings. Under salinity stress conditions, RF application increased the tomato fresh weight; while ME, RF, and HF treatments significantly decreased the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentration and antioxidant activity in tomato plants. The biochemical analyses of Ulva lactuca extract and fractions showed that the RF recorded the highest concentration of glycine betaine, while the ME was the part with the highest concentrations of total phenols and soluble sugars. This suggests that these compounds might play a key role in the mechanism by which seaweed extracts mitigate salinity stress on plants.
Highlights
One of the big challenges the humankind is facing today is to ensure that there is enough food for an increasingly growing population
Priming tomato seeds with methanol extract (ME) of Ulva lactuca enhanced significantly the shoot fresh weight of plants irrigated with 4 dS·m−1 nutrient solution in comparison with the control by 39.88%
Priming tomato seeds with Ulva lactuca extract at a concentration of 1 mg·mL−1 succeeded in minimizing the deleterious effect of salinity stress on tomato seedlings by increasing their fresh weight in comparison to untreated plants
Summary
One of the big challenges the humankind is facing today is to ensure that there is enough food for an increasingly growing population. Enhancing food production in a sustainable way is a key element to reduce the hunger in the world [2]. Achieving this goal is connected with many challenges, such as nutrient imbalance, water scarcity, and degradation of arable lands [3,4]. The latter challenge is the result of many processes that occur either naturally or due to human activity.
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