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. 2022 Jul 5;11(13):1775.
doi: 10.3390/plants11131775.

Foliar Application of Salicylic Acid to Mitigate Water Stress in Tomato

Eduardo Santana Aires  1 , Andrew Kim Lopes Ferraz  1 , Beatriz Lívero Carvalho  1 , Fabricio Palla Teixeira  1 , Fernando Ferrari Putti  2 , Emanuele Possas de Souza  1 , João Domingos Rodrigues  3 , Elizabeth Orika Ono  3
Affiliations

Foliar Application of Salicylic Acid to Mitigate Water Stress in Tomato

Eduardo Santana Aires et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Salicylic acid (SA) is an important plant regulator reported as a mitigator of water deficit in plants, however without a recommendation for use in field conditions. Thus, this research aims to validate the use of SA under field conditions in regions with low water availability. For that, we evaluated CO2 assimilation (A), stomatal conductance (gs), transpiration (E), water use efficiency (WUE), and carboxylation efficiency (A/Ci) at 15, 30, and 45 days of continuous stress water deficit, as well as the application of salicylic acid (0.0; 0.5; 1.0; 1.5; 2.0 mM) in tomato plants subjected to continuous water deficit (45 days), in two years (2019 and 2020). The water deficit reduced the A, gs, E and A/Ci, while the foliar application of SA increased these parameters in all evaluated times, resulting in similar or even higher values than in plants without water deficit. Water deficit caused floral abortion in tomato plants, without the application of SA, reducing the number of fruit production. In contrast, plants that received about 1.3 mM of SA increased A and A/Ci and translocated the photo-assimilates, mainly to flowers and fruits, reducing floral abortion and increasing fruit production. Thus, foliar application of SA was efficient in mitigating the deleterious effects of water deficit in tomato plants regarding the gas exchange and fruit production.

Keywords: Solanum lycopersicum; floral abortion; photosynthesis; plant regulation; water deficit.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Average, maximum, and minimum temperatures (°C); Relative air humidity (%) inside the greenhouse during 2019 (A) and 2020 (B) cycles. DAS—Days after sowing.
Figure 2
Figure 2
CO2 assimilation rate (A) at 15 (A), 30 (C), and 45 (E) days of water deficit (DWD); stomatal conductance (gs) at 15 (B), 30 (D), and 45 (F) DWD in tomato plants subjected to application of salicylic acid (SA) doses in two consecutive years, 2019 and 2020. ** Highly Significant at 5% probability. α Indicates an equal and significant effect between treatments by Dunnett’s Test at 5% probability in the 2019 cycle and β in the 2020 cycle. The bars show the standard deviation. n = 4 (number of replicates).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Internal concentration of CO2 (Ci) at 15 (A), 30 (C), and 45 (E) days of water deficit (DWD); transpiration (E) at 15 (B), 30 (D), and 45 (F) DWD of tomato plants subjected to application of salicylic acid (SA) doses in two consecutive years 2019 and 2020. ** Highly Significant at 5% probability; α Indicates that there was an equal and significant effect between treatments by the Dunnett’s Test at 5% probability in the 2019 cycle and β in the 2020 cycle. The bars show the standard deviation. n = 4 (number of replicates).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Water use efficiency (WUE) at 15 (A), 30 (C), and 45 (E) days of water deficit (DWD); carboxylation efficiency (A/Ci) at 15 (B), 30 (D), and 45 (F) DWD of tomato plants submitted to the application of salicylic acid (SA) doses in two consecutive years (2019 and 2020). ** Highly Significant at 5% probability; α Indicates that there was an equal and significant effect between treatments by Dunnett’s Test at 5% probability in the 2019 cycle and β in the 2020 cycle. The bars show the standard deviation. n = 4 (number of replicates).
Figure 5
Figure 5
Total production (A), commercial production (B), total number of fruits (TNF) (C), and commercial number of fruits (CNF) (D) of tomato plants submitted to the application of doses of salicylic acid (SA) and water deficit in two consecutive years (2019 and 2020). ** Highly Significant at 5% probability; α Indicates that there was an equal and significant effect between treatments by the Dunnett’s Test at 5% probability in the 2019 cycle and β in the 2020 cycle. The bars show the standard deviation. n = 4 (number of replicates).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Graphical abstract of Foliar application of salicylic acid to mitigate water stress in tomato.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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