Effect of salicylic acid on some growth and biochemical characters of Solanum tuberosum cv. Agria under salinity stress on in vitro condition

Salinity is an abiotic stress that seriously constrains agricultural production including potatoes in most regions of the world. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of salicylic acid, on growth properties and biochemical characteristics of in vitro cultureof Solanum tuberosum cv. Agria under salinity stress. The study was carried out at a completely random design with eight replications in the Department of Horticulture of University of Tabriz. Variables under study included salinity stress at two levels (0 and 70 mM/L sodium chloride) and salicylic acid at four levels (0, 1, 10, and 100 mM/L). Results showed that salicylic acid significantly mitigated the effects of salinity. Therefore, the highest plantlet length was recorded under salinity along with 10 mM salicylic acid treatment showing the positive effect of the treatment on mitigating the influences of salinity. However, the concentrations of salicylic acid higher than 10mM/L not only had no effect on plants, but also negatively influenced the effects of salinity stress. Also, antioxidant enzyme activity of the plantlets had a considerable increase at all concentrations of salicylic acid and levels of salinity. Moreover, the study suggested that Solanum tuberosum cv. Agria was relatively sensitive to salinity stress and all characteristics of the plants under study were influenced with salinity. Also, application of salicylic acid caused improvement in the growth and biochemical properties of the plants under study increasing their tolerance against salinity stress.