Exogenous jasmonic acid can enhance tolerance of wheat seedlings to salt stress

•Jasmonic acid aids in regulating stress responses, plant growth and development.•Salt stress adversely affected the growth of wheat seedlings.•JA could effectively protect wheat seedlings from salt stress damage.

Jasmonic acid (JA) is regarded as endogenous regulator that plays an important role in regulating stress responses, plant growth and development. To investigate the physiological mechanisms of salt stress mitigated by exogenous JA, foliar application of 2 mM JA was done to wheat seedlings for 3 days and then they were subjected to 150 mM NaCl. Our results showed that 150 mM NaCl treatment significantly decreased plant height, root length, shoot dry weight, root dry weight, the concentration of glutathione (GSH), chlorophyll b (Chl b) and carotenoid (Car), the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), enhanced the concentration of malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and the rate of superoxide radical (O2−O2−) generation in the wheat seedlings when compared with the control. However, treatments with exogenous JA for 3 days significantly enhanced salt stress tolerance in wheat seedlings by decreasing the concentration of MDA and H2O2, the production rate of O2−O2− and increasing the transcript levels and activities of SOD, POD, CAT and APX and the contents of GSH, Chl b and Car, which, in turn, enhanced the growth of salt stressed seedlings. These results suggested that JA could effectively protect wheat seedlings from salt stress damage by enhancing activities of antioxidant enzymes and the concentration of antioxidative compounds to quench the excessive reactive oxygen species caused by salt stress and presented a practical implication for wheat cultivation in salt-affected soils.

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