biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 51:480-487, 2007 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-007-0101-1

Exogenous 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and salicylic acid modulate the effect of short-term drought and freezing stress on wheat plants

E. Horváth¹, M. Pál¹, G. Szalai¹, E. Páldi¹, T. Janda^1,*

¹ Agricultural Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Martonvásár, Hungary

Exogenous salicylic acid has been shown to confer tolerance against biotic and abiotic stresses. In the present work the ability of its analogue, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid to increase abiotic stress tolerance was demonstrated: it improved the drought tolerance of the winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cv. Cheyenne and the freezing tolerance of the spring wheat cv. Chinese Spring. Salicylic acid, however, reduced the freezing tolerance of Cheyenne and the drought tolerance of Chinese Spring, in spite of an increase in the guaiacol peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase activity. The induction of cross tolerance between drought and freezing stress was observed: drought acclimation increased the freezing tolerance of Cheyenne plants and cold acclimation enhanced the drought tolerance. The induction of drought tolerance in Cheyenne was correlated with an increase in catalase activity.

Keywords: antioxidant activity; chlorophyll fluorescence induction; low temperature; water stress

Subjects: antioxidants, antioxidant enzymes; ascorbate peroxidase; catalase; chlorophyll a,b; chlorophyll fluorescence; cultivar and genotype differences; drought stress and tolerance; glutathione reductase; guaiacol peroxidase; phenylalanine ammonialyase; photon flux density (PPFD, PFD); salicylic acid; temperature, low; Triticum aestivum; water stress; wheat

Received: February 4, 2006; Accepted: June 2, 2006; Published: September 1, 2007Show citation