No abstract

No abstract

The recovery ability of barley plants from salt stress conditions was assessed using foliar application of salicylic acid (SA) in a study conducted under controlled conditions. The barley plants (Hordeum vulgare L. 'Reyhan') were subjected to saline water with varying salinity levels (tap water 0.67 dS m -1 as control, 3, 6, 9, and 12 dS m -1 ) from 14 to 42 days after sowing (DAS). Then the plants were subjected to recovery treatments for 4 weeks, from 42 to 70 DAS. The recovery treatments included: non-recovery (R 0 ), irrigation with tap water (R 1 ), and irrigation with tap water + 2 foliar applications of SA with a 1-week interval (R 2 ). The results showed that salt stress decreased shoot and root dry weight, leaf K + concentration, and photosynthesis rate, while it increased leaf Na + concentration and free proline, soluble protein, and chlorophyll contents. These reductions were related directly to stress intensity. Both recovery treatments increased shoot dry weight, Na + concentration, free proline, chlorophyll content, and photosynthetic rate. Compensation of root dry weight losses due to salt stress was observed only in R 1 . However, for other measured traits recovery ability with R 2 was greater than with R 1 . Overall, it appeared that although recovery treatments could not fully eliminate salt-induced damages, the recovery treatment with SA proved to be very effective in alleviating the adverse effects of salt stress on barley plants.

No abstract