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Enhancement of salt tolerance in corn using Azospirillum brasilense: an approach on antioxidant systems

  • Regular Paper – Physiology/Biochemistry/Molecular and Cellular Biology
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Abstract

Salinity has become one of the major factors limiting agricultural production. In this regard, different cost-effective management strategies such as the use of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) as inoculants to alleviate salt-stress conditions and minimize plant productivity losses have been used in agricultural systems. The aim of this study was to characterize induced antioxidant responses in corn through inoculation with Azospirillum brasilense and examine the relationship between these responses and the acquired salt-stress tolerance. Treatments were performed by combining sodium chloride (0 and 100 mM NaCl) through irrigation water with absence and presence of A. brasilense inoculation. The experiment was performed in a completely randomized design with four replications. Lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde [MDA]), and nitrogen (N), sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) contents, as well as dry biomass, glycine betaine, and antioxidant enzymes activities such as of superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC 1. 15. 1. 1), glutathione reductase (GR, EC 1. 6. 4. 2), guaiacol peroxidase (GPOX, EC 1. 11. 1. 7), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX, EC 1. 11. 1. 9) were determined. Overall results indicated that plants treated with 100 mM NaCl showed the most pronounced salt-stress damages with consequent increase in MDA content. However, inoculated plants showed an enhanced capacity to withstand or avoid salt-stress damages. These results could be attributed, at least in part, to the increased activity of antioxidant enzymes. Our results suggest that A. brasilense may confer tolerance to salt stress in corn plants enhancing antioxidant responses, primarily by the enzymes GSH-PX and GPOX, and the osmolyte glycine betaine.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) (MVC) for the scholarship granted (Finance Code 001). PLG also thanks the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for the research fellowship (Grant nº 314380/2018-3) - Brazil. This work was funded by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP - Grant n° 2017/04787-6).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Depto. de Biologia Aplicada à Agropecuária, Jaboticabal, SP, 14884-900, Brazil

    Mirela Vantini Checchio, Kevein Ruas de Oliveira, Durvalina Maria Mathias dos Santos & Priscila Lupino Gratão

  2. Núcleo de Produção Vegetal, Instituto Nacional do Semiárido (INSA), Campina Grande, PB, 58434-700, Brazil

    Rita de Cássia Alves

  3. Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Depto. de Produção Vegetal, Jaboticabal, SP, 14884-900, Brazil

    Gustavo Vitti Moro

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  1. Mirela Vantini Checchio
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  2. Rita de Cássia Alves
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  3. Kevein Ruas de Oliveira
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Correspondence to Priscila Lupino Gratão.

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Checchio, M.V., de Cássia Alves, R., de Oliveira, K.R. et al. Enhancement of salt tolerance in corn using Azospirillum brasilense: an approach on antioxidant systems. J Plant Res 134, 1279–1289 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-021-01332-1

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