The effect of salicylic acid and methyl-jasmonate on antioxidant properties and physiological traits of greater celandine (Chelidonium majus L.) under salinity stress

In this study, the effects of salicylic acid and methyl jasmonate as two inducers were studied on antioxidant activity, photosynthetic pigments and flavonoids under salinity stress in Chelidonium majus L. This experiment was conducted as a factorial in a completely randomized design with four replications at Imam Khomeini International University during 2017. The elicitors were treated as foliar and mixed with irrigation. The factors studied included elicitors at three levels (distilled water as control, 2 mM salicylic acid, and 100 µM methyl jasmonate), salinity stress at two levels, urban water as control (EC=0.62 ds/m), salinity at 30 mM NaCl (EC=3.36 ds/m), and plant organs at three levels (leaf, root, stem). The analysis of variance showed that the main effects of salinity, elicitors, organs and their interactions were significant for most of the traits. The results of mean comparison for elicitors showed that methyl jasmonate increased carotenoid, flavonoids and anthocyanin. Both salicylic acid and methyl-jasmonate treatments reduced the amount and activity of catalase, superoxide dismutase and guaiacol peroxidase enzymes under salinity stress. In mean comparison of the triple interaction effects, salinity놩扳⥢ acid闦 was the best combination of factors for chlorophyll (1.68 mg.g-1 FW) and carotenoid (0.54 mg.g-1 FW) contents. Also, the maximum content for anthocyanin (5.7 OD.gr-1 FW) was observed in non-salinity駫懊 jasmonate闦 and for flavonoids in salinity麉hormone (3.42 OD.gr-1 FW), non-salinity놩扳⥢ acid (3.27 OD.gr-1 FW) and salinity駫懊 jasmonate (3.2 OD.gr-1 FW) in leaf, respectively. The amount of total protein increased in salinity놩扳⥢ acid (56.72 mg.g-1 FW) and salinity駫懊 jasmonate (53.27 mg.g-1 FW) in contrast to reduction in salinity麉hormone (43.35 mg.g-1 FW). In conclusion, by applying the two mentioned elicitors, greater celandine does not need to increase the antioxidant defense system and will potentially improve the yield of biomass and some secondary metabolites under salinity stress.