article · Frontiers in Plant Science
Salinity is a major environmental stress that limits crop productivity. In controlled pot experiments, wheat plants exposed to varying levels of salt stress were treated with foliar sprays of aspartic acid at different concentrations. Salt stress alone damaged plant development, reducing shoot length, leaf area, biomass, photosynthetic pigments, and natural growth hormones. Applying aspartic acid counteracted these negative effects in both stressed and non-stressed conditions. The treatment stimulated the plant antioxidant defence system, cutting levels of reactive oxygen species and cellular lipid damage. In addition, the foliar spray boosted beneficial compatible solutes, including proline and soluble sugars, which preserve cellular function under stress. Mathematical modelling showed that increasing aspartic acid concentration substantially improved shoot dry weight, demonstrating that foliar aspartic acid mitigates the growth-limiting effects of salinity in wheat.
Soil salinity poses a severe threat to global food security by suppressing crop yields and damaging plant tissue. Finding practical treatments that protect staple crops like wheat against saline conditions helps sustain agricultural output. Demonstrating that an amino acid spray can strengthen natural stress defences offers a potential method to support grain production in salt-affected farming areas.
This work points towards the development of foliar biostimulant formulations based on aspartic acid to protect wheat crops in saline soils. The primary users would be agrochemical manufacturers and cereal growers operating on salt-affected land. Because the findings derive from controlled factorial pot trials rather than open field settings, the technology represents early-stage applied research requiring extensive field trials and cost-benefit validation before commercial deployment.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
Salinity is the primary environmental stress that adversely affects plants' growth and productivity in many areas of the world. Published research validated the role of aspartic acid in improving plant tolerance against salinity stress. Therefore, in the present work, factorial pot trials in a completely randomized design were conducted to examine the potential role of exogenous application of aspartic acid (Asp) in increasing the tolerance of wheat (<i>Triticum aestivum</i> L.) plants against salt stress. Wheat plants were sown with different levels of salinity (0, 30, or 60 mM NaCl) and treated with three levels of exogenous application of foliar spray of aspartic acid (Asp) (0, 0.4, 0.6, or 0.8 mM). Results of the study indicated that salinity stress decreased growth attributes like shoot length, leaf area, and shoot biomass along with photosynthesis pigments and endogenous indole acetic acid. NaCl stress reduced the total content of carbohydrates, flavonoid, beta carotene, lycopene, and free radical scavenging activity (DPPH%). However, Asp application enhanced photosynthetic pigments and endogenous indole acetic acid, consequently improving plant leaf area, leading to higher biomass dry weight either under salt-stressed or non-stressed plants. Exogenous application of Asp, up-regulate the antioxidant system <i>viz</i>. antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, catalase, and nitrate reductase), and non-enzymatic antioxidants (ascorbate, glutathione, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content, beta carotene, lycopene) contents resulted in declined in reactive oxygen species (ROS). The decreased ROS in Asp-treated plants resulted in reduced hydrogen peroxide, lipid peroxidation (MDA), and aldehyde under salt or non-salt stress conditions. Furthermore, Asp foliar application increased compatible solute accumulation (amino acids, proline, total soluble sugar, and total carbohydrates) and increased radical scavenging activity of DPPH and enzymatic ABTS. Results revealed that the quadratic regression model explained 100% of the shoot dry weight (SDW) yield variation. With an increase in Asp application level by 1.0 mM, the SDW was projected to upsurge through 956 mg/plant. In the quadratic curve model, if Asp is applied at a level of 0.95 mM, the SDW is probably 2.13 g plant<sup>-1</sup>. This study concluded that the exogenous application of aspartic acid mitigated the adverse effect of salt stress damage on wheat plants and provided economic benefits.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.987641
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
