Seed Priming Improves Chilling Stress Tolerance in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Seedlings

Chilling is one of the major abiotic stresses for plants,especially for rice cultivation.Many essential metabolic processes for growth and development are temperature-dependent.In that case,reducing the negative effects of cold stress using exogenous chemicals is a possible option.Therefore,the current study examined the effects of pre-sowing seed treatment with different chemicals,viz.hydrogen peroxide(H_(2)O_(2)),salicylic acid(SA),calcium chloride(CaCl_(2)),thiourea(TU),and citric acid(CA)on the germination of rice seeds(cv.BRRI dhan28)under chilling environments.Rice seeds were soaked in distilled water(control),10 mM CA,2 mM SA,10 mM CaCl_(2),10 mM H_(2)O_(2),and 10 mM TU solutions for 24 h.After that,seeds were exposed to chilling stress by incubating at 4±1℃ for 8 h,followed by at 25±2℃ for 16 h for 7 days.Exposure to chilling stress significantly reduced thefinal germination percent(13.6%),germination rate index(36.0%),coefficient of the velocity(25.0%),shoot fresh weight(44.4%),and root fresh weight(60.5%).Moreover,chilling induced oxidative damage and reduced the activity of antioxidant enzymes(catalase and ascorbate peroxidase).In contrast,treatments with H_(2)O_(2),SA,CaCl_(2),TU,and CA considerably enhanced germination indices and seedling growth compared to chilling stress condi-tions.The study showed that priming with H_(2)O_(2),SA,CaCl_(2),TU,and CA significantly boosted antioxidant enzyme activities and reduced MDA and H_(2)O_(2) contents in chilling-stressed rice plants,indicating less oxidative stress and improved tolerance.Principal component analysis showed that among these priming agents,H_(2)O_(2),SA,and CA are most effective in chilling stress mitigation.Therefore,using seed-treating chemicals to combat the effect of chilling stress can help rice seedlings grow better in the winter season.

Antioxidant Defense Mechanisms of Salinity Tolerance in Rice Genotypes

In order to elucidate the role of antioxidant responses in salinity tolerance in rice genotypes under salt stress, experiments were conducted using four rice varieties, including salt-sensitive BRRI dhan 28 and three salt-tolerant varieties BRRI dhan 47, BINA dhan 8 and BINA dhan 10. Thirty-day-old rice seedlings were transplanted into pots. At the active tillering stage(35 d after transplanting), plants were exposed to different salinity levels(0, 20, 40 and 60 mmol/L NaCl). Salt stress caused a significant reduction in growth for all the rice genotypes. Growth reduction was higher in the salt-sensitive genotype than in the salt-tolerant ones, and BINA dhan 10 showed higher salt tolerance in all measured physiological parameters. The reduction in shoot and root biomass was found to be minimal in BINA dhan 10. Chlorophyll content significantly decreased under salt stress except for BINA dhan 10. Proline content significantly increased in salt-tolerant rice genotypes with increased salt concentration, and the highest proline content was obtained from BINA dhan 10 under salt stress. Catalase and ascorbate peroxidase activities significantly decreased in salt-sensitive genotype whereas significantly increased in salt-tolerant ones with increasing salt concentration. However, salt stress significantly decreased guaiacol peroxidase activity in all the rice genotypes irrespective of salt tolerance. K^+/Na^+ ratio also significantly decreased in shoots and roots of all the rice genotypes. The salt-tolerant genotype BINA dhan 10 maintained higher levels of chlorophyll and proline contents as well as catalase and ascorbate peroxidase activities under salt stress, thus, this might be the underlying mechanism for salt tolerance.