Exogenous Melatonin Promotes the Salt Tolerance by Removing Active Oxygen and Maintaining Ion Balance in Wheat ( L.)

Overview

Journal Front Plant Sci

Date 2022 Feb 17

PMID 35173749

Authors

Zhihui Zhang

Liantao Liu

Hongye Li

Shaocong Zhang

Xiaoyi Fu

Xiuzhen Zhai

Na Yang

Jiaming Shen

Ruiqi Li

Dongxiao Li

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Melatonin (MT) is a small molecule indole hormone that plays an important role in the regulation of biological processes and abiotic stress resistance. Previous studies have confirmed that MT promotes the normal development of plants under stress by mediating physiological regulation mechanisms. However, the physiological mechanism of exogenous MT regulating seed germination and seedling growth of wheat under salt stress is still unclear. In this study, NaCl stress decreased germination rate and inhibited seedling growth of wheat, but shoot length, root length, and plant weight of SM15 did not change significantly. The addition of 300 μM MT in the cultivation solution directly promoted the germination rate of SM15 and ZM18, and lateral root production, but decreased the germination rate of JM22 and inhibited the length of germ and radicle of three varieties under salt stress. For wheat seedling, application of MT could increase proline content, soluble protein, soluble sugar, Ca content, and vital amino acid content in leaves to keep high water content, low level of HO content, and low [K]/[Na] ratio. MT increased root vigor and [K]/[Na] ratio and decreased HO content in root induced by salt stress. In conclusion, MT enhanced salt tolerance in wheat seeds and seedlings by regulating the synthesis of soluble protein and sugar, ion compartmentation in roots and leaves, enhancement of enzymatic systems, and changes in amino acid levels. Salt resistance varied with different varieties under the same environmental condition. SM15 was a higher salt-resistant variety and JM22 was a salt-sensitive one. In wheat production, the application of exogenous MT should consider the differences among varieties of wheat during the sowing and seedling stages.

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