Mitigating effect of foliar applied ascorbic acid on morpho-physiological, biochemical changes and yield attributes induced by salt stress in Vigna radiate

The present investigation was carried out to examine the role of exogenously applied ascorbic acid which mitigates the deleterious effects of salt stress in mungbean (Vigna radiata L.) genotype HUM-1. Plants grown under induced salinity stress at 150 mM NaCl were treated with different concentration of ascorbic acid, i.e., 0.5 mM, 1.0 mM and 2.0 mM. To study the effects of treatments of salt stress on chlorophyll content, proline content, nitrate reductase activity, superoxide dismutase activity and yield attributes data were recorded at 20, 40, 60 day after sowing. Nitrate reductase activity and chlorophyll content with 1.0 mM ascorbic acid under salinity (150 mM NaCl) while the activities of superoxide dismutase get reduced up to 43.71% at 40 days after sowing. In plant treated with combined treatment of 150 mM NaCl and 1.0 mM foliar applied ascorbic acid caused a decline in the level of proline, which was 3.38 mg, 3.35 mg and 6.30 mg at 20, 40 and 60 days after sowing. The threshold level of ascorbic acid was 150 mM NaCl along with 1.0 mM ascorbic acid, that improved the yield attributes under salinity. Ascorbic acid inhibits the adverse effect of NaCl for growth and development of plants. So ascorbic acid may be a promising treatment to ameliorate the deleterious effects of salt stress in crops.