Melatonin Enhances Maize Germination, Growth, and Salt Tolerance by Regulating Reactive Oxygen Species Accumulation and Antioxidant Systems
Melatonin (MT) is a crucial hormone that controls and positively regulates plant growth under abiotic stress, but the biochemical and physiological processes of the combination of melatonin seed initiation and exogenous spray treatments and their effects on maize germination and seedling salt tolera...
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2025-01-01
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| author | Wei-Qing Li Jia-Yu Li Shao-Jie Bi Jia-Yue Jin Zhong-Ling Fan Zi-Lin Shang Yi-Fei Zhang Yan-Jie Wang |
| author_facet | Wei-Qing Li Jia-Yu Li Shao-Jie Bi Jia-Yue Jin Zhong-Ling Fan Zi-Lin Shang Yi-Fei Zhang Yan-Jie Wang |
| author_sort | Wei-Qing Li |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Melatonin (MT) is a crucial hormone that controls and positively regulates plant growth under abiotic stress, but the biochemical and physiological processes of the combination of melatonin seed initiation and exogenous spray treatments and their effects on maize germination and seedling salt tolerance are not well understood. Consequently, in this research, we utilized the maize cultivars Zhengdan 958 (ZD958) and Demeiya 1 (DMY1), which are extensively marketed in northeastern China’s high-latitude cold regions, to reveal the modulating effects of melatonin on maize salinity tolerance by determining the impacts of varying concentrations of melatonin on maize seedling growth characteristics, osmoregulation, antioxidant systems, and gene expression. The findings revealed that salt stress (100 mM NaCl) significantly inhibited maize seed germination and seedling development, which resulted in significant increases in the H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> and O<sub>2</sub><sup>−</sup> content and decreases in the antioxidant enzyme activity and photosynthetic pigment content in maize seedlings. However, exogenous melatonin considerably reduced the development inhibition caused by salt stress in maize seedlings. Moreover, exogenous melatonin alleviated NaCl-induced membrane damage and oxidative stress, and reduced Na<sup>+</sup> content and excessively large quantities of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In addition, exogenous melatonin increased antioxidant enzyme activity and the expression of the antioxidant enzyme genes <i>ZmSOD4</i>, <i>ZmCAT2</i>, and <i>ZmAPX2</i>. This study demonstrates the potential role of combined melatonin seed initiation and foliar spray treatments in mitigating the detrimental effects of salt stress on maize growth, giving a theoretical foundation to future research on the possible advantages of exogenous regulating chemicals in attaining sustainable production in salt-alkaline soils. |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2223-7747 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Plants |
| spelling | doaj-art-8d0fa923493d4995b2be6add0e7e29a62025-01-24T13:47:09ZengMDPI AGPlants2223-77472025-01-0114229610.3390/plants14020296Melatonin Enhances Maize Germination, Growth, and Salt Tolerance by Regulating Reactive Oxygen Species Accumulation and Antioxidant SystemsWei-Qing Li0Jia-Yu Li1Shao-Jie Bi2Jia-Yue Jin3Zhong-Ling Fan4Zi-Lin Shang5Yi-Fei Zhang6Yan-Jie Wang7College of Agriculture, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing 163319, ChinaCollege of Agriculture, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing 163319, ChinaCollege of Life Science and Biotechnology, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing 163319, ChinaCollege of Life Science and Biotechnology, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing 163319, ChinaCollege of Life Science and Biotechnology, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing 163319, ChinaCollege of Life Science and Biotechnology, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing 163319, ChinaCollege of Agriculture, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing 163319, ChinaCollege of Agriculture, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing 163319, ChinaMelatonin (MT) is a crucial hormone that controls and positively regulates plant growth under abiotic stress, but the biochemical and physiological processes of the combination of melatonin seed initiation and exogenous spray treatments and their effects on maize germination and seedling salt tolerance are not well understood. Consequently, in this research, we utilized the maize cultivars Zhengdan 958 (ZD958) and Demeiya 1 (DMY1), which are extensively marketed in northeastern China’s high-latitude cold regions, to reveal the modulating effects of melatonin on maize salinity tolerance by determining the impacts of varying concentrations of melatonin on maize seedling growth characteristics, osmoregulation, antioxidant systems, and gene expression. The findings revealed that salt stress (100 mM NaCl) significantly inhibited maize seed germination and seedling development, which resulted in significant increases in the H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> and O<sub>2</sub><sup>−</sup> content and decreases in the antioxidant enzyme activity and photosynthetic pigment content in maize seedlings. However, exogenous melatonin considerably reduced the development inhibition caused by salt stress in maize seedlings. Moreover, exogenous melatonin alleviated NaCl-induced membrane damage and oxidative stress, and reduced Na<sup>+</sup> content and excessively large quantities of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In addition, exogenous melatonin increased antioxidant enzyme activity and the expression of the antioxidant enzyme genes <i>ZmSOD4</i>, <i>ZmCAT2</i>, and <i>ZmAPX2</i>. This study demonstrates the potential role of combined melatonin seed initiation and foliar spray treatments in mitigating the detrimental effects of salt stress on maize growth, giving a theoretical foundation to future research on the possible advantages of exogenous regulating chemicals in attaining sustainable production in salt-alkaline soils.https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/14/2/296melatoninsalt stressmaize (<i>Zea mays</i> L.)reactive oxygen speciesantioxidant system |
| spellingShingle | Wei-Qing Li Jia-Yu Li Shao-Jie Bi Jia-Yue Jin Zhong-Ling Fan Zi-Lin Shang Yi-Fei Zhang Yan-Jie Wang Melatonin Enhances Maize Germination, Growth, and Salt Tolerance by Regulating Reactive Oxygen Species Accumulation and Antioxidant Systems Plants melatonin salt stress maize (<i>Zea mays</i> L.) reactive oxygen species antioxidant system |
| title | Melatonin Enhances Maize Germination, Growth, and Salt Tolerance by Regulating Reactive Oxygen Species Accumulation and Antioxidant Systems |
| title_full | Melatonin Enhances Maize Germination, Growth, and Salt Tolerance by Regulating Reactive Oxygen Species Accumulation and Antioxidant Systems |
| title_fullStr | Melatonin Enhances Maize Germination, Growth, and Salt Tolerance by Regulating Reactive Oxygen Species Accumulation and Antioxidant Systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Melatonin Enhances Maize Germination, Growth, and Salt Tolerance by Regulating Reactive Oxygen Species Accumulation and Antioxidant Systems |
| title_short | Melatonin Enhances Maize Germination, Growth, and Salt Tolerance by Regulating Reactive Oxygen Species Accumulation and Antioxidant Systems |
| title_sort | melatonin enhances maize germination growth and salt tolerance by regulating reactive oxygen species accumulation and antioxidant systems |
| topic | melatonin salt stress maize (<i>Zea mays</i> L.) reactive oxygen species antioxidant system |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2223-7747/14/2/296 |
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