Salicylic acid and trehalose attenuate salt toxicity in Brassica juncea L. by activating the stress defense mechanism

Two significant soil degradation processes that pose a hazard to our ecosystems are soil salinization and sodification. The information on potential of salicylic acid (SA) and trehalose (Tre) to induce abiotic stress signaling and triggers physio-biochemical responses in crop plants is limited. Therefore, the present study was aimed to investigate the efficacy of 5 μM SA and/or 10 mM Tre in improving the growth, photosynthesis, ion homeostasis, nutrient acquisition, antioxidant defense system and yield of mustard plants growing under sodium chloride (NaCl) stress (0, 50, 100 and 150 mM NaCl). The data showed that increasing NaCl stress concentration decreased growth, photosynthesis, membrane permeability, ion homeostasis and yield in a dose-dependent manner while increasing considerably enzymatic antioxidant enzyme activities, compatible solute accumulation, sodium ion and oxidative stress biomarkers linearly with increasing NaCl stress concentration. The spray of SA, Tre, and SA + Tre played diversified roles in enhancing NaCl stress tolerance in mustard at morpho-physiological and biochemical levels. The combined SA + Tre application proved best and completely neutralized the NaCl stress-induced suppression in growth, photosynthesis, ion homeostasis, nutrient acquisition and yield by significantly enhancing the activities of enzymatic antioxidants, compatible solutes accumulation, water status and membrane permeability, while reducing considerably osmotic stress, reactive oxygen species generation, lipid peroxidation, cell death and sodium uptake in mustard. The SA + Tre application enhanced relative water content by 23%, net photosynthetic rate by 48%, superoxide dismutase activity by 51% and seed yield per plant by 64%, while decreased superoxide anion content by 26%, sodium ion content by 36% and malondialdehyde content by 25% over 0 mM NaCl treatment. Our findings indicate that the co-application of SA + Tre can be a suitable approach to palliate the ill effect of NaCl stress in mustard plants.