Exogenous ascorbic acid priming promoted oats seedling growth under Na2SO4 stress

This study aimed to explore the effect of exogenous ascorbic acid on oats seedling growth under Na2SO4 stress. Oats (Avena sativa) seeds were primed by incubation in different concentrations of ascorbic acid (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mmol·L-1), prior to germination under increasing concentrations of Na2SO4 (0, 50 and 100 mmol·L-1). Changes in shoot length (SL), root length (RL), shoot fresh weight (SFW), root fresh weight (RFW), and seedling vigor index (SVI), were analyzed. Results showed that SL, RL, SFW and SVI of oats seedlings significantly (P<0.05) decreased with increasing Na2SO4 stress. On the other hand, RFW first increased and then decreased. Nevertheless, all variables increased upon AsA priming; this indicated that oats seedling growth was improved by AsA priming prior to Na2SO4 stress. The effects of Na2SO4 and AsA concentration, as well as their interaction (except for SVI), on all parameters under study were highly significant (P<0.01). This indicated that the effects of AsA priming were closely related to the concentrations of AsA and Na2SO4, and their interaction. In this study, priming with AsA at 1.5 mmol·L-1 effectively promoted oats seedling growth under Na2SO4 stress.