Amelioration of salinity tolerance in cowpea plants by seed treatment with methyl jasmonate

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the role of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) in alleviation of the adverse effects of salinity on cowpea. Seeds were soaked in 0, 25 and 50 mu M MeJA for 20 h and then the seedlings were irrigated with different concentrations of NaCl (0, 50 and 100 mM). Salt stress markedly decreased growth attributes namely shoot length, shoot and root dry weight and leaf area. NaCl stress also significantly reduced chlorophyll value, stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, total soluble proteins and relative water content (RWC). Furthermore, salinity noticeably increased proline and total soluble sugars content. Nonetheless, seeds treatment with MeJA especially 50 mu M, improved the growth of cowpea plants by increasing chlorophyll value, stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, total soluble proteins, proline accumulation, total soluble sugars and RWC under salt stress conditions. Thus results indicate that pretreatment of seeds with MeJA could be used as an effective technique for improving cowpea plants tolerance to salt stress.