ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Response of Oryza sativa L. to the Interactive Effect of Drought and Salicylic Acid 

Plant growth and rice productivity are negatively affected by the alarming rise of abiotic and biotic stress factors. Drought stress is a significant factor that directly affects numerous physiological, biochemical and molecular responses in plants. The exogenous application of plant growth regulators such as salicylic acid is a crucial route to alleviate the detrimental effects of water scarcity and plant efficacy. The research was conducted to evaluate the impact of foliar-applied salicylic acid of 0.25 mM concentration on morphological, physiological and biochemical alterations in rice plants under two levels of polyethylene glycol 6000 induced drought stress (8%, 16%). Drought stress increased lipid peroxidation, ion leakage, proline accumulation but decreased the leaf relative water content, root and shoot biomass. In contrast, foliar application of 0.25 mM SA mitigated PEG-induced drought stress by enhancing the LRWC, proline accumulation, decreasing the lipid peroxidation and electrolyte leakage. It was observed that SA treatment led to substantial improvement in plant biomass at both the drought stress levels, thereby increasing the plant acclimation under water deficit conditions.