ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Calcium Chloride Supplementation Improves
in vivo Salt Stress Tolerance of Drumstick
(Moringa oleifera L.)
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Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, 71491, Saudi Arabia
Submission date: 2022-02-28
Final revision date: 2022-10-04
Acceptance date: 2022-11-07
Online publication date: 2023-01-23
Publication date: 2023-02-23
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2023;32(2):999-1008
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ABSTRACT
Salinity is becoming a bigger problem for agricultural production across the world. Calcium chloride
(CaCl2) was used to mitigate the adverse impact of NaCl-induced oxidative stress in terms of growth
parameters, chlorophyll, carotenoid, protein, proline, phenolic content (TPC), flavonoid content (TFC),
DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate) radical, ABTS (2,2’-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-
6-sulfonic acid), peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR) and
catalase (CAT) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation in Moringa oleifera L. plants. There
were 8 treatments in the experimentation including control, 100 mM NaCl, 200 mM NaCl, 300 mM
NaCl, 100 mM NaCl + 3 mM CaCl2, 200 mM NaCl + 3 mM CaCl2 300 mM NaCl + 3 mM CaCl2 and
3 mM CaCl2 alone. The results NaCl (100 mM) with 3 mM CaCl2 revealed that the salt stress inhibited
the growth parameters of fresh (7.23±0.2), dry weight (4.03±0.2), number of leaves (13.66±0.6), shoot
(17.17±1.0) and root length (19.07±0.7) reduced of M oleifera. While NaCl (100mM) with CaCl2 (3 mM)
treating significantly promoted the growth parameters of M oleifera under salt stress. NaCl (100mM)
with CaCl2 (3 mM) treating plants showed increased carotenoids (0.956±0.03), chlorophyll (1.576±0.04),
protein (15.67±0.3), proline (61.66±2.3), TPC (28.20±0.24), TFC, compared with untreated M oleifera
under salt stress. NaCl (100 mM) with CaCl2 (3 mM) treating increased the antioxidant activities (DPPH,
ABTS) and antioxidant enzymes activities (POD, SOD, CAT, GR, MDA) compared with untreated
M oleifera under salt stress. Therefore, the CaCl2 can be productively used to enhancement the seedling
establishment and growth of M oleifera grown under salt stress conditions. The molecular mechanisms
of Ca2+ signalling induced by CaCl2 treating in M oleifera under salt stress as seed priming agents on
the final yield, even under field conditions should be the focus for future research.