Abstract

Salicylic Acid Mediated Salt Tolerance at Different Growth Stages of Oryza sativa l. and its Effect on Salicylic Acid Biosynthetic Pathway Genes

Author(s): Jini D, Joseph B

Salicylic acid (SA) is one of the plant growth regulators which reduced the salt stress impact on plants. In the present investigation, the role of SA in inducing salinity tolerance was studied in different stages of Oryza sativa L. (ASD16 and BR26) and its role in the SA biosynthetic pathway genes for the salt tolerance. The salinity of five soil samples from Erayumanthurai region was analyzed and found that the soil sample E1 and E5 showed high and low salinity respectively. SA, when applied at 1.0 mM, provided considerable protection against salt stress imposed by adding 100 mM NaCl during the germination and vegetative stage. But the application of SA during the reproductive stage under salt stress condition did not improve the morphological characters and the yield. So, the SA was applied during the germination and vegetative stage to the low and high saline soil that increased the yield. The expression levels of SA biosynthetic pathway genes (OsCM, OsICS and OsPAL) were increased by the SA treatment under salt stress condition that may enhance the salt tolerance level of rice plants. So, the SA could be used as a potential growth regulator to improve plant growth under salt stress conditions.