Physiologic and metabolic effects of exogenous kojic acid and tyrosol, chemicals produced by endophytic fungus, on wheat seeds germination

Abstract

Antioxidant compounds have the ability to scavenge the reactive oxygen species in an attempt to minimise damage in seeds during the germination. This study aimed to evaluate the physiological and metabolic process of two well-established antioxidant compounds: kojic acid and hydroxyphenyl ethanol (tyrosol), at increasing concentrations, on wheat seeds. The use of different concentrations of tyrosol or kojic acid not showed any interference on seed germination rate. However, we observed isolated effect of antioxidants and their concentrations to: germination speed index, shoot length and electrolyte leakage; and significant interaction between the factors to: seedling total length, seedling fresh matter and α-amylase activity. Our results suggest that the use of antioxidant molecules can be applied on seed treatments for protection against damage oxidative stress and improve seed metabolism.

Keywords:

• Triticum aestivum L
• ROS
• antioxidants
• electrolyte leakage
• α-amylase

Acknowledgements

We are also grateful to DSc. João Basílio Mesquita for assistance with fungi identification, and National Institute of Science and Technology of Biodiversity and Natural Products (Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Produtos Naturais – INCT BioNat) for support to the first and second authors.