Abstract

The present work was carried out to study the impacts of 24-Epibrassinolide (24-Epi), in alleviating natural salinity stress originated from Urmia lake, as one of the hypersaline lakes in the world in wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Pishtaz) plants. After foliar spraying of 14-day old plants by 5 pM 24-Epi, they were irrigatedwith 0, 10.7 and 15 dS m−1 natural saline water for two weeks, then they were harvested to determine some growth and biochemical parameters. The findings revealed that 24-Epi spraying might alleviate the detrimental impacts of salt stress by improving wheat growth traits, photosynthetic pigments and increasing leaf catalase (CAT) activitiy as well as souble sugar and proline content especially at 10.7 dS m−1 level. In addition, H2O2 level in leaves decreased in 24-Epi-sprayed plants under salinity by enhancing antioxidant defense system. In conclusion, the present study suggests that 24-Epi spraying would mitigate harmful impacts of natural salinity in wheat plants and could be considered as a practical approach for developing biosaline agriculture management.