article · Molecules
Soil salinity impairs the physiological and biochemical functions of crops, posing risks to agricultural production. In this study, the impact of sodium nitroprusside, a nitric oxide donor, was evaluated on lentil plants subjected to salt stress. Salt stress was induced using moderate and severe concentrations of sodium chloride, causing notable declines in root and shoot lengths, leaf relative water content, chlorophyll levels, pod numbers, seed yield, and overall plant biomass. Salinity also led to heightened accumulation of malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide, alongside increased activities of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase, catalase, and peroxidase. The external application of sodium nitroprusside, specifically at a concentration of 100 micromolar, significantly counteracted these adverse effects. This treatment improved plant growth and yield-contributing traits, particularly under moderate salinity conditions, by regulating biochemical pathways and plant growth mechanisms.
Rising soil salinity threatens crop yields and global food security, particularly for important staple legumes such as lentils. Identifying chemical treatments that boost plant resilience under saline conditions offers a potential means to sustain agricultural yields. This research demonstrates that applying nitric oxide donors like sodium nitroprusside can help protect lentil plants from the physiological damage caused by moderate salt stress.
This work represents early-stage experimental research that could inform the development of chemical crop-treatment formulations or priming agents. Agrochemical developers and pulse crop growers could use nitric oxide donors to improve lentil productivity in saline soils. Moving this towards real-world adoption would require practical delivery methods, field-scale testing across diverse soil environments, and formulation stability assessments, as current findings are limited to controlled experimental evaluations.
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Soil salinity disrupts the physiological and biochemical processes of crop plants and ultimately leads to compromising future food security. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a contributor to nitric oxide (NO), holds the potential to alleviate abiotic stress effects and boost tolerance in plants, whereas less information is available on its role in salt-stressed lentils. We examined the effect of exogenously applied SNP on salt-stressed lentil plants by monitoring plant growth and yield-related attributes, biochemistry of enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD)) amassing of leaf malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>). Salinity stress was induced by NaCl application at concentrations of 50 mM (moderate salinity) and 100 mM (severe salinity), while it was alleviated by SNP application at concentrations of 50 µM and 100 µM. Salinity stress severely inhibited the length of roots and shoots, the relative water content, and the chlorophyll content of the leaves, the number of branches, pods, seeds, seed yield, and biomass per plant. In addition, MDA, H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> as well as SOD, CAT, and POD activities were increased with increasing salinity levels. Plants supplemented with SNP (100 µM) showed a significant improvement in the growth- and yield-contributing parameters, especially in plants grown under moderate salinity (50 mM NaCl). Essentially, the application of 100 µM SNP remained effective to rescue lentil plants under moderate salinity by regulating plant growth and biochemical pathways. Thus, the exogenous application of SNP could be developed as a useful strategy for improving the performance of lentil plants in salinity-prone environments.
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DOI: 10.3390/molecules26092576
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