Effect of Silicon on Antioxidant Enzymes of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Grown under Salt Stress

Purpose Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a sensitive plant for both biotic and abiotic stresses and directly losses the production rate under these stresses. The beneficial role of silicon has been explored in the beginning of twentieth century. Therefore the current experiment was carried out to explore the effect of silicon on defense system of wheat by antioxidant enzymes assay. Methods In this study two wheat cultivars Umeed and Zarghoon, were grown in soil under salt stress of 100 mM NaCl. The treatments included C1 (Control), C2 (Control + salt), S1 (Na2SiO3) and S2 (Na2SiO3 + Salt). When the fag leaf appeared both the wheat cultivars were compared by estimating their antioxidants enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase) and soluble protein in different treatments. Results The soluble proteins and antioxidant enzymes in wheat decreased under salt stress of 100 mM NaCl. Whereas by silicon supplementation in salt stressed wheat plants, improvement in the protein quantity was observed. The application of silicon improved the defense mechanism of plant and increased the antioxidant enzymes which were suppressed by the salt stress. Umeed showed more improvement as compared to Zarghoon variety. Conclusion Overall it was concluded that silicon has helped the wheat plants to mitigate the salt stress by strengthening its defense mechanism which was apparent by superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase activity.