Abstract
Althought safflower is a tolerant crop against many environmental stresses, but its yield and performance reduce under stress. The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of silicon (Si) application on the possibility of increasing salinity resistance and related mechanisms in safflower. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of Si spraying (0, 1.5 and 2.5 mM) on safflower plants grown under salt stress condition (non-saline and 10 dS m−1). Salinity reduced seedling emergence percent and rate, growth parameters and disrupted ion uptake but increased emergence time and specifc leaf weight. Spraying of Si increased plant height, fresh and dry weight, leaf area, relative water content (RWC), potassium, calcium and silicon content, while sodium absorption was decreased. As a result, the K+/Na+ and Ca2+/Na+ ratios were increased. Elevated ion contents and ratios indicate an enhanced selectivity of ion uptake following silicon application and may increase ion discrimination against Na+. Treatment with 2.5 mM Si showed the most positive effect on the measured growth traits. Decrement in leaf area ratio under salinity indicates a more severe effect of salinity on leaf area compared to biomass production. On the other hand, silicon reduced the specific leaf weight under stress and non-stress conditions, which revalues the positive effects of silicon on leaf area expansion. Improvement of RWC may a reason for the icrease in leaf area and biomass production. Data shows that spraying with Si especialy with 2.5 mM can reduce salinity stress damage to safflower and increase biomass production.
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The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from University of Zanjan, Zanjan and scientific support from University of Brescia.
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Open access funding provided by Università degli Studi di Brescia within the CRUI-CARE Agreement. The authors did not receive funds, grants, or other support from any organization for the submitted work.
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Conceptualization, B.J., F.S. and B.A.; methodology, R.F. and V.J.; formal analysis, B.A., R.F. and V.J.; investigation, R.F. and V.J.; resources, A.M.; data curation, F.S. and A.M.; writing—original draft preparation, B.J. and F.S.; writing—review and editing, D.U. and A.M.; supervision, A.M.; funding acquisition, A.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.”
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Jam, B.J., Shekari, F., Andalibi, B. et al. Impact of Silicon Foliar Application on the Growth and Physiological Traits of Carthamus tinctorius L. Exposed to Salt Stress. Silicon 15, 1235–1245 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-022-02090-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-022-02090-y