Abstract
Salicylic acid (SA) exogenous application could modify the physiological and morphological capacity wheat plants in water stress condition. A greenhouse experiment was conducted with seeds of a drought tolerant (NARC-2009) and a susceptible (PAK-2013) wheat varieties. At tillering stage drought was induced by holding water and salicylic acid (SA) was applied at three levels (0, 5, and 10mM). The parameters investigated were shoot and root length, fresh and dry weight, relative water content (RWC), membrane stability index (MSI) and chlorophyll content. Results showed that water stress reduced the dry, fresh weights, shoot length and chlorophyll content, RWC and MSI. It was clearly observed that SA application via root enhance water stress tolerance of wheat seedlings and alleviated the effect of drought as compared to PAK-2013, NARC-2009 shows better results. The results of this study indicated the role of salicylic acid (SA) in enhancing plant growth under stress condition.
