Effect of Silica Nanoparticles and Jasmonic Acid on Some Physiological Characteristics of Strawberry under Salinity Stress

Salinity stress is a major factor limiting the plant growth and productivity. Strawberry is a perennial plant and one of the most important small fruits; it is considered as a plant sensitive to salinity. In order to investigate the effects of jasmonic acid and silica nanoparticles on the yield, growth and fruits characteristics of strawberry cv. Paros, an experiment was carried out with three levels of jasmonic acid (0, 0.25 and 0.5 mM) as the spray, three levels of silica nanoparticles (0, 1 and 2 mM), and two sodium chloride levels (0 and 50 mM). Therefore, a factorial experiment was designed based on a completely randomized design with three replications under hydroponic condition. In this study, the length of pedicel, root volume, the dry weights of shoot and root, the percent of the opened leaf stoma, some fruit traits (index color and firmness), leaf specific area, salinity tolerance index and yield were measured. The results showed that growth indices, yield and also, some fruit-related features of this cultivar were decreased by salinity. Application of jasmonic acid and silica nanoparticle improved the fruit quality, yield and morphological characteristics under both control and salinity conditions. Thus, the use of jasmonic acid and silica nanoparticles under salinity stress increased the root volume, crown dry weight, and yield by 49%, 146% and 57%, respectively. The best results were observed in the application of 50 mM jasmonic acid and 0.5 mM silica nanoparticles.