Value Added Abstracts
Maria Nawaz
Abstract
Salinity stress adversely affected the growth, productivity and yield of rice from last few decades. Here, in this study the ameliorative role of exogenous spray of potassium (K) and salicylic acid (SA) have been investigated against salinity stress in rice. Four rice varieties (Kashmir Basmati, Basmati-370, Super-Basmati and Basmati-515) were exposed to NaCl stress (0, 100 mM) and sprayed with SA (0.02 %), K (0.1 %) and their combination (SA+K) at vegetative and flowering stages. Salinity stress caused reduction in morpho-physiological attributes (fresh/dry weight per plant, leaf area, chlorophyll contents (a, b and total), stomatal conductance andrelative water contents. Moreover, the salt induced oxidative stress was confirmed by remarkable changes in plant metabolism (total soluble sugars, nitrate, nitrite reductase, proline), plant ionic relations (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus ions) and plant yield (number of tillers per plant, number of panicles per plant, harvest index and seed yield per plant).