The present investigation aims to highlight the role of salt priming in mitigating salt stress on faba bean. In the absence of priming, the results reflected an increase in H2O2 generation and lipid peroxidation in plants subjected to 200 mM salt shock for one week, accompanied by a decline in growth, photosynthetic pigments, and yield. As a defense, the shocked plants showed enhancements in ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), peroxidase (POX), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities. Additionally, the salt shock plants revealed a significant increase in phenolics and proline content, as well as an increase in the expression levels of glutathione (GSH) metabolism-related genes (the L-ascorbate peroxidase (L-APX) gene, the spermidine synthase (SPS) gene, the leucyl aminopeptidase (LAP) gene, the aminopeptidase N (AP-N) gene, and the ribonucleo-side-diphosphate reductase subunit M1 (RDS-M) gene). On the other hand, priming with increasing concentrations of NaCl (50-150 mM) exhibited little significant reduction in some growth- and yield-related traits. However, it maintained a permanent alert of plant defense that enhanced the expression of GSH-related genes, proline accumulation, and antioxidant enzymes, establishing a solid defensive front line ameliorating osmotic and oxidative consequences of salt shock and its injurious effect on growth and yield.
Keywords: Vicia faba; antioxidant enzymes; gene expression; qPCR; salt priming; salt stress.