Soil salinity is one of the major environmental obstacles that limit the crop productivity. A pot experiment was conducted with an aim to explore the ameliorative effects of exogenously applied sodium nitroprusside (SNP) concentration against salinity stress in Brassica napus (L.) cv. Pactole.
Methods
Plants were grown under greenhouse conditions in plastic pots and were exposed to ***** mM NaCl. Further, ***** days old plants were sprayed with sodium nitroprusside (SNP, **** μM) solutions. Plant growth indices, mineral uptake, membrane permeability, lipid peroxidation, H2O2 concentration, chlorophyll and carotenoid concentrations were analyzed.
Results
Salinity stress caused a highly significant decrease in growth parameters, …show more content…
Around the world, about 900 million ha, or 5% of arable land, is adversely affected by high salt concentrations, which reduce crop growth and yield, especially in arid and semi arid regions (FAO 2014; Ghassemi et al., 1995). Under salinity stress, reduction in plant growth and yield as well as anatomical structure and ultrastructure is usually interlinked with a variety of biochemical, physiological, and molecular characteristics (Shahbaz et al. 2008, 2011, 2012; Akram et al. 2009; Ashraf 2009; Kanwal et al. 2011; Perveen et al. 2011 Shahbaz et al., 2011, 2012; Adebooye et al., 2012; Perveen et al., 2012a). Photosynthesis is one of the most severely affected processes during salinity stress (Sudhir and Murthy, 2004), which is mediated by decreased chlorophyll pigment, damage the photosynthetic apparatus and decreases the activities of Calvin cycle enzymes (Monakhova and Chernyadev 2002), inhibition of rubisco and closure of stomata, thereby, decreasing the CO2 pressure (Bethkey and Drew, 1992). Under saline conditions, accumulation of compatible organic osmolytes such as soluble sugars and free proline is also enhanced in most plants (Perveen et al., 2011; Ashraf et al., 2012; Perveen et al., 2012b). Under salt stress, Na+ and Cl– concentrations in plant tissues are increased over the demand of the crops, which cause adverse effects on plants (Shahbaz and Zia, 2011; Shahbaz and Ashraf, 2013). Excessive external supply of Na+ causes low K+/ Na+ ratios in plants exposed to salt stress (Naheed et al., 2008; Shahbaz et al., 2013). Furthermore, yield attributes decrease substantially under saline regimes (Kanwal et al.,