Impact of gamma irradiation pretreatment on the growth of common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) seedlings grown under salt and drought stress

Abstract

It has been generally accepted that the morphology, physiology and biochemistry of plants are differentially affected by low-dose gamma ionizing radiation that is associated with the tolerance of plant species under biotic/abiotic stress. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the protective role of low gamma irradiation pretreatment against salt and drought stress. For this aim, irradiated (100 Gy) and non-irradiated seeds of common vetch were cultured on an MS medium with separate addition of concentrations of NaCl (100 mM) and PEG-6000 (100 g/l) under in vitro conditions. Morpho-physio-biochemical analyses were carried out on 14-day-old seedlings. The findings of this study clearly show that exposure to gamma irradiation pretreatment (100 Gy), alone or in combination with salt stress and drought stress, led to significant increases (p < .01) in dry matter accumulation, CAT, SOD and APX activities, proline contents and decreases in relative water content. However, alone, gamma irradiation pretreatment caused increased chlorophyll contents while decreasing MDA contents. Overall, these results suggested that low-dose gamma irradiation pretreatment can enhance the tolerance of common vetch seedlings against stress due to salt and drought.

Keywords:

• Gamma irradiation
• salt stress
• drought stress
• in vitro culture
• Morpho-Physio and biochemical responses
• Vicia sativa L.

View correction statement:

Correction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ramazan Beyaz

Ramazan Beyaz is currently working at Kırşehir Ahi Evran University in Turkey as an Assoc. Prof. Dr. He received his Msc. (2010) and Ph.D. (2014) degree from Biotechnology Institute of Ankara University, Turkey. Dr. Beyaz scientific interested areas are plant biotechnology, plant mutation breeding and plant stress physiology. Currently, he is working on projects about improve new salt and drought tolerant crop plant varieties by using ionizing radiation and plant biotechnology techniques. Dr. Beyaz published several peer-reviewed articles, three chapter in the book Plant Engineering, Water Stress in Plants, Seed Dormancy published.