Priming cycles with salinity tolerance elicitors in seeds of Mimosa caesalpiniifolia and Pityrocarpa moniliformis.

Pereira, Kleane Targino Oliveira; Torres, Salvador Barros; de Paiva, Emanoela Pereira; de Sousa, Giovanna Dias; de Sousa Leite, Moadir; de Albuquerque, Cynthia Cavalcanti; da Silva Sá, Francisco Vanies

Mimosa caesalpiniifolia and Pityrocarpa moniliformis occur in arid and semi-arid regions where quality water is scarce. Furthermore, the presence of salts in water or soil reduces germination and seedling formation, reducing the establishment of seedlings in degraded areas. Exposing seeds to conditioning cycles with elicitors can favor species' survival under saline stress conditions. Simulated saline stress (200 mM NaCl) reduced germination, growth, and biomass accumulation in seedlings of both species, with P. moniliformis being more tolerant than M. caesalpiniifolia. The mitigation of impacts induced by salinity stress on the formation of M. caesalpiniifolia seedlings was obtained after two cycles of conditioning with gibberellic acid, naturally produced by plants acting as a growth regulator. Previous imbibition of the seeds increased the efficiency of this regulator under salinity. For P. moniliformis, increased tolerance to salinity stress occurred with the water imbibition cycle. This process is sufficient to activate metabolic and respiratory activities, essential for germination to continue and form seedlings even under salinity stress. This demonstrates that the results differ between species, the number of cycles, and tolerance-eliciting agents. Conditioning cycles with water and gibberellic acid allow for more uniform germination and establishment of seedlings under salinity stress conditions.

SALINITY; GERMINATION; MIMOSA; PLANT regulators; SOIL salinity; HYDROLOGIC cycle; SEEDS

Biologia, 2024, Vol 79, Issue 2, p411

0006-3088

Academic Journal

10.1007/s11756-023-01596-z