Exogenous Application of Salicylic Acid Improves Physiological and Biochemical Attributes of Morus alba Saplings under Soil Water Deficit

Morus alba L. is a multipurpose and fast-growing tree species. However, its growth productivity are susceptible to water stress. Therefore, study was conducted check the effectiveness of foliar application salicylic acid (SA) in improving stress tolerance M. alba. A pot experiment morphological, physiological biochemical attributes young saplings were assessed under control (CK, 90% field capacity (FC)), moderate (MS, 60% FC) high soil deficits (HS, 30% FC), along with MS HS + SA 0.5 1.0 mM (MS 0.5; 1.0, HS+1.0, respectively). Results demonstrated that highest decrease plant growth, leaf, stems roots’ dry biomass, chlorophyll a, b, carotenoid contents leaf gas exchange parameters observed HS, whereas lowest evidenced for SA. Electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde contents, hydrogen peroxide superoxide radicals significantly increased while increase The proline content, total soluble sugar, phenolic protein dismutase, peroxidase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase also found Based on results, it can be concluded help improve deficit saplings, especially deficit.