Brassinosteroid (24-epibrassinolide) enhances growth and alleviates the deleterious effects induced by salt stress in pea (Pisum sativum L.)

Abstract

The response of pea (Pisum sativum L.) cv. Climax seeds imbibed with 24-epibrassinolide (EBL) and sodium chloride (NaCl) prior to sowing was evaluated. Soaking of seeds in two different concentrations of EBL (5 and 10 �M) for 4 hours, caused an increase in germination, embryo axis length and most of the aspects of shoot and root growth at seedling stage, maturity stage (90 DAS) along with seed yield at the time of harvest. Both the EBL treatments (5 and 10 �M) improved the above mentioned attributes but maximum improvement was observed in response to EBL concentration of 10 �M with respect to the control. At seedling stage, EBL (10 �M) significantly enhanced the fresh and …