Plant Soil Environ., 2017, 63(7):307-314 | DOI: 10.17221/287/2017-PSE

Salt acclimation induced salt tolerance is enhanced by abscisic acid priming in wheatOriginal Paper

Zongshuai WANG¹, 3, Xiangnan LI^*,2, Xiancan ZHU², Shengqun LIU², Fengbin SONG², Fulai LIU⁴, Yang WANG², Xiaoning QI², Fahong WANG³, Zhiyu ZUO⁵, Peizi DUAN⁶, Aizheng YANG7, Jian CAI¹, Dong JIANG^*,1

¹ National Technique Innovation Center for Regional Wheat Production, National Engineering and Technology Center for Information Agriculture, Key Laboratory of Crop Physiology and Ecology in Southern China, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, P.R. China

² Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, P.R. China

³ Crop Research Institute, Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Jinan, P.R. China

⁴ University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Taastrup, Denmark

⁵ Key Laboratory of Modern Agricultural Equipment and Technology, Ministry of Education, School of Agricultural Equipment and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, P.R. China

⁶ Quality Supervision Administration of Agricultural Environment and Livestock Products, Hengshui, P.R. China

⁷ Northeast Agriculture University, School of Water Conservancy and Civil Engineering, Harbin, P.R. China

High salt stress significantly depresses carbon assimilation and plant growth in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Salt acclimation can enhance the tolerance of wheat plants to salt stress. Priming with abscisic acid (1 mmol ABA) was applied during the salt acclimation (30 mmol NaCl) process to investigate its effects on the tolerance of wheat to subsequent salt stress (500 mmol NaCl). The results showed that priming with ABA modulated the leaf ABA concentration to maintain better water status in salt acclimated wheat plants. Also, the ABA priming drove the antioxidant systems to protect photosynthetic electron transport in salt acclimated plants against subsequent salt stress, hence improving the carbon assimilation in wheat. It suggested that salt acclimation induced salt tolerance could be improved by abscisic acid priming in wheat.

Keywords: soil salinization; gas exchange; chlorophyll a fluorescence; salinity; phytohormone

Published: July 31, 2017  Show citation