The effect of foliar application of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and brassinosteroids (BNs) on root and shoot vegetative traits of Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) under salinity stress conditions

Due to study the effect of foliar application of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) and brassinosteroids (BNs) on root and shoot vegetative traits of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) under salinity stress conditions, a greenhouse experiment was done at shahr-e-rey region 2016-2017. The experiment was conducted as factorial based on completely randomized design with four replications. In which salinity stress from the source of Nacl at three levels (0, 40 and 80 mM), Sodium nitroprusside at three levels (0, 75 and 150 μM) and Brassinosteroids at two levels (0 and 1.5 μm) were considered. The analysis of variance results showed that the simple effects of salinity stress, application of salicylic acid and jasmonic acid were significant on all investigated subjects, and among these traits, root length, number of leaves and root dry weight were influenced by the triple interaction of salinity stress, salicylic acid and jasmonic acid. The results of mean comparison showed that in 95 mM sodium chloride consumption the lowest plant height (41.93 cm), root length (9.79 cm), leaves number (4.62), leaf area of plant (140.73), shoot fresh weight (12.93 g/plant), shoot dry weight (2.46 g/plant) and root dry weight (1.42 g/plant) were observed. The results of mean comparison double interaction effects confirmed that maximum amount of shoot dry weight (11.8867 g/plant), root dry weight (3.7811 g/plant) and leaf area (675.63 cm2) were obtained at 150 μM of sodium nitroprusside and 1.5 μM of brassinosteroid. Therefore, it can be concluded that consumption of sodium nitroprusside and brassinosteroid improved all morphological traits tested in rosemary medicinal plant through the occurrence of anti-stress effects.