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Alleviation of exogenous oligochitosan on wheat seedlings growth under salt stress

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Abstract

Hydroponic experiments were carried out to study the role of oligochitosan in enhancing wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) resistance to salt stress. Data were collected on plant biomass, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic rate (P n), stomatal conductance (g s), proline content, antioxidant enzyme activities, and malondialdehyde (MDA) content. Under 150 mM salt stress, plant growth was significantly inhibited. Shoot length, root length, and dry weight were sharply reduced by 26%, 31%, and 20%, respectively, of the control. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD) were increased by 28%, 13%, and 26%, respectively, of the control and MDA content largely accumulated, which was 1.5-fold of the control. However, 0.0625% oligochitosan pretreatment alleviated the adverse effects of salt stress, which was reflected by increasing root length, shoot length, dry weight, chlorophyll content, P n, and g s. Furthermore, it also showed that oligochitosan pretreatment significantly increased antioxidant enzyme (SOD, CAT and POD) activities, and reduced MDA content in leaves. Meanwhile, the accumulation of proline was markedly accelerated. The results indicated that oligochitosan pretreatment ameliorated the adverse effects and partially protected the seedlings from salt stress during the following growth period.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31070285 and 30870205), the Department of Education of Liaoning province Foundation (L2010516) and the Liaoning province Natural Science Foundation (20102205).

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Life Science, Shenyang Normal University, 253, Huanghe Street, Shenyang, 110034, China

    Lianju Ma, Yueying Li, Yan Wang, Xuemei Li, Na Li, Qiang Chen & Ning Bu

  2. College of Agronomy, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, 110161, China

    Cuimei Yu

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  1. Lianju Ma
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Correspondence to Ning Bu.

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Handling Editor: Hanns H. Kassemeyer

The authors L.J. Ma and Y.Y.Li contributed equally to this work.

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Ma, L., Li, Y., Yu, C. et al. Alleviation of exogenous oligochitosan on wheat seedlings growth under salt stress. Protoplasma 249, 393–399 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-011-0290-5

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