Salinity affects the yield and quality of oilseed crops. The effects of a single foliar application of solutions with different concentrations (0, 30, 60 or 90 µM) of melatonin (MEL) to camelina (Camelina sativa) plants grown in soil in a greenhouse and irrigated at four salinity levels (0.5, 4, 8 and 16 dS m-1) were assessed. Increasing salinity decreased leaf chlorophyll and photosynthetic rates, decreased K concentrations and increased Na concentrations in roots and shoots, and increased oxidative marker levels and the activity of protective antioxidant enzymes in leaves. Under severe salinity stress, the MEL90 treatment resulted in increases in chlorophyll, gas exchange attributes, leaf antioxidant enzyme activities, and decreases in leaf oxidative markers and Na. Salinity decreased seed yield, with no seeds being produced at salinities above 8 dS m-1. The MEL90 treatment resulted in increases in seed yield and poly- and mono-unsaturated fatty acid contents and decreases in saturated fatty acid contents. The MEL90 treatment was more effective in alleviating salinity effects than those including lower MEL concentrations. The highest concentrations of K and K/Na ratios were observed with the MEL90 treatment under non-stressed conditions. Data suggest that MEL foliar applications could increase salinity stress tolerance in camelina.
Keywords: antioxidant enzyme activity; gas exchange; ion-selective transport; unsaturated fatty acids.