Sequential Antioxidants Foliar Application Can Alleviate Negative Consequences of Salinity Stress in Vicia faba L

Wael M Semida; Taia A Abd El-Mageed; Reham M Abdalla; Khaulood A Hemida; Saad M Howladar; Ahmed A A Leilah; Mohamed O A Rady

doi:10.3390/plants10050914

Sequential Antioxidants Foliar Application Can Alleviate Negative Consequences of Salinity Stress in Vicia faba L

Plants (Basel). 2021 May 2;10(5):914. doi: 10.3390/plants10050914.

Authors

Wael M Semida¹, Taia A Abd El-Mageed², Reham M Abdalla³, Khaulood A Hemida⁴, Saad M Howladar⁵, Ahmed A A Leilah⁶, Mohamed O A Rady⁷

Affiliations

¹ Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, Fayoum 63514, Egypt.
² Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, Fayoum 63514, Egypt.
³ Vegetable Crops Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut 71526, Egypt.
⁴ Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Fayoum University, Fayoum 63514, Egypt.
⁵ Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Jeddah, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Agronomy Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Mansoura University, Mansoura 35516, Egypt.
⁷ Agronomy Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, Fayoum 63514, Egypt.

Abstract

Salinity is one of the most limiting abiotic stresses in agricultural productivity. Exogenously applied antioxidants successfully enabled salt-stressed plants to cope with stress. Two-season field experiments were conducted consecutively in 2016/17 and 2017/18 to study the effects of foliar applications of singular (ascorbate, AsA; proline, Pro; and glutathione, GSH) or sequential (AsA-Pro-GSH and GSH-Pro-AsA) antioxidants on growth, yield, physio-biochemical attributes, and enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidative defense system of Vicia faba L. (CV. Sakha-1) plants grown under saline soil conditions (EC = 4.53 dS m^-1). Under soil salinity conditions, AsA, Pro, or GSH-Pro-ASA improved growth and productivity, photosynthesis efficiency, stomatal conductance (gs), plant water status, as well as enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. However, sequential AsA-Pro-GSH foliar application followed by singular GSH significantly exceeded all other treatments (i.e., AsA, Pro, and GSH-Pro-AsA), improving growth characteristics (shoot length, shoot fresh and dry weights, and leaves area), photosynthesis efficiency, stomatal conductance, plant water status, and yield and its components (green pods weight/plant^-1, green pods yield/hectare^-1, and seed yield/hectare^-1), as well as enzymatic (ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione reductase) and non-enzymatic (AsA, GSH, Pro, phenolic aglycone, phenolic glycosides) antioxidants compared to control. Overall, our results clearly demonstrate that sequential AsA-Pro-GSH foliar application has a positive effect on salt-stressed Vicia faba plants.

Keywords: Vicia faba; antioxidant activities; photosynthetic efficiency; salinity stress; sequential antioxidants.