Evaluation of Proline-Ascorbate Mixture (PAM) in Alleviation of NaCl Induced Stress in Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek

Abstract—Excess amount of salt causes problem in physiological and biochemical processes of plants. In the present study, the effect of different concentrations of NaCl on physiological and biochemical changes of Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek seedlings compared to the control plants were evaluated. Also the effect of proline-ascorbate mixture (PAM) on the alleviation of NaCl stress in the plants was assessed. In this study some physiological parameters like relative water content, shoot length, diameter of leaves; biochemical parameters like proline, protein, sugars, phenols, chlorophyll and carotenoid content along with H2O2 and superoxide anion content, catalase, peroxidase and amylase activity, ascorbate content; and sodium, potassium and calcium ion content was examined. All the physiological parameters decreased with increasing salt concentration but with PAM treatment the extent of decrease was lower. Proline content was highest in 0.2 M NaCl concentration in case of both the treatments but with PAM treatment the accumulation was much lower. Phenols, chlorophylls and protein content decreased with increasing NaCl concentration but with PAM treatment the decrease was less. Catalase and peroxidase enzyme activity increased with increasing NaCl stress but with PAM treatment their activities declined at higher concentration. Sodium, potassium and calcium ion content also increased with PAM treatment in comparison to that of the NaCl only stress. Therefore, from the present study, we could conclude that the external application of proline and ascorbate mixture overall could relieve the extent of NaCl stress as evident from the physiological and biochemical parameters studied.