Journal
AGRONOMY-BASEL
Volume 10, Issue 5, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/agronomy10050663
Keywords
salt stress; osmotic potential; ion toxicity; antioxidant capacity
Categories
Funding
- National Key Technology Research and Development Program [2018YFD1001000]
- 111 project of the Chinese Education Ministry [B12007]
- Special-Fund of Scientific Research Programs of State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau [A314021403-C5]
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Melatonin has been confirmed extensively for the positive effects on increasing plant tolerance to various abiotic stresses. However, the roles of melatonin in mediating different stresses still need to be explored in different plants species and growth periods. To investigate the role of melatonin in mitigating salt stress, maize (Zea mays L.) seedlings growing in hydroponic solution were treated with 100 mM NaCl combined with or without 1 mu M melatonin. Melatonin application had no effects on maize growth under normal condition, while it moderately alleviated the NaCl-induced inhibition of plant growth. The leaf area, biomass, and photosynthesis of melatonin-treated plants were higher than that of without melatonin under NaCl treatment. The osmotic potential was lower, and the osmolyte contents (including sucrose and fructose) were higher in melatonin-treated plants. Meanwhile, the decreases in Na+ content and increases in K+/Na+ ratio were found in shoots of melatonin-applied plant under salt stress. Moreover, both enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant activities were significantly increased in leaves with melatonin application under salt treatment. These results clearly indicate that the exogenous melatonin-enhanced salt tolerance under short-term treatment could be ascribed to three aspects, including osmotic adjustment, ion balance, and alleviation of salt-induced oxidative stress.
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