Salicylic acid mediated changes in growth, photosynthesis, nitrogen metabolism and antioxidant defense system in Cicer arietinum L.

The present study reveals that the foliar application of salicylic acid (SA), irrespective of the concentration used, generated an increase of dry mass per plant, nodule dry mass and leghemoglobin content in chickpea plants. The activity of nitrogenase (E.C 1.18.6.1), nitrate reductase (NR) (E.C. 1.6.6.1), glutamine synthetase (GS) (E.C 6.3.1.2), glutamate synthase (GOGAT) (E.C 1.4.7.1) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) (E.C 1.4.1.3) increased as well. Among the three concentrations of SA, the order of response was found to be 10(-5) mol/L > 10(-6) mol/L > 10(-4) mol/L > control.