Alleviation of the harmful effects of soil salt stress on growth, yield and endogenous antioxidant content of wheat plant by application of antioxidants.

Two field experiments were carried out during the two growing seasons (2005/2006; 2006/2007) to investigate the role of some plant antioxidant materials such as ascorbic acid, glutathione, alpha-tocopherol and spermine in alleviating the harmful effects caused by soil salt levels (3840 and 6080 mg L(-1)) on wheat plant. The grains were pre-soaked then the plants sprayed with any of antioxidants used. Moreover, the data showed that 6080 mg L(-1) soil salt level alone or in combination with any of applied antioxidants increased the activity of total peroxidase, ascorbic peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase in wheat leaves. In addition, salinity level (6080 mg L(-1)) alone or in combination with any of applied antioxidants increased the endogenous contents of ascorbic acid and glutathione and total phenols but decreased carotenoids. It could be concluded that salt soil stress depressed all of growth parameters and yield components. The data also revealed that the different antioxidants could partially alleviate the harmful effect of salinity stress which reflected on growth and yield of wheat plant.