Investigations into the effect of salicylic acid on some biochemical and antioxidant parameters in soybean under salt stress

Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses which are responsible for limiting crop production. Foliar spray with hormones has been an effective method for increasing growth and productivity of plants grown under salt stress. Salicylic acid regulates many physiological processes in plants when subjected to environmental stresses. Soybean cultivar Pusa- 9712 plants were grown with 150 mM NaCl were sprayed with 10-4 M, 10-5 M, or 10-6 M SA and some physiological processes were studied to authenticate our understanding of their role in tolerance to salinity-induced oxidative stress and also to see how much these parameters are induced by SA application. Results depicted that salt stress negatively affected photosynthetic pigments and protein content and enhanced lipid peroxidation in both control and stressed plants. Foliar application of SA increased the Superoxide dismutase (SOD), Guaiacol peroxidase (POD) and Catalase (CAT) activity in salt stressed plants. CAT activity was found to be highest in plants treated with 10-6 M as compared to control whereas same concentration of SA increase proline content by 89.04% to mitigate the impact of salt stress. Result further exhibited that lipid peroxidation was also reduced by about 21.53% under salt treatment. Infact, SA treatment prevents the negative effects of salt stressed soybean and this could be adopted as a potential growth regulator to improve soybean grown under salt stress.