Salinity is one of the abiotic stresses that affect negatively wheat productivity across the globe. In Pakistan, wheat is a cash crop. Probably, exogenous application of salicylic acid could be helpful to induce salt stress resistance in possibly high-yielding modern wheat cultivars in Pakistan (Ujala 2016 and Akbar 2019). A pot experiment of a complete randomized design was therefore conducted in sand-filled plastic containers. These pots were planted with wheat seeds at the experimental area of the Department of Botany, Government College Women's University Faisalabad, Pakistan, during the winter season of 2021-2022. Two levels of NaCl [0 and 150mM] were applied along with Hoagland’s nutrient solution at 14-day interval and two levels of salicylic acid [0 and 100 mg L-1] were applied to wheat leaves after 28 DAS. All treatments were replicated 4 times. Plants were sampled after 3 weeks of foliar application to estimate morphological and biochemical parameters. Salinity significantly lessened shoot and root fresh/dry weights. Also, it diminished soluble protein, shoot K+ ion, and shoot K+/Na+ ratio in the two wheat cultivars when grown under saline conditions compared to control. On the other hand, salinity stress significantly raised the levels of catalase, superoxide dismutase, ascorbic acid, total phenolic, glycine betaine, hydrogen peroxide, malondialdehyde and shoot Na+ ion. Exogenic application of SA raised the activities of catalase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, ascorbic acid, soluble protein, phenolic, glycine betaine, shoot calcium, shoot K+/Na+ ratio and this consequently enhanced shoot and root (fresh and dry) weights of the two wheat cultivars under salt stress conditions and also under the non-stressful condition. In conclusion, exogenous application of SA was more effective for both wheat cultivars to acclimatize under saline condition. The wheat cultivar Akbar-2019 revealed better performance than Akbar 2019 in most morphological characteristics of wheat grown in salt stress conditions.
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