Effects of 6-Benzylaminopurine and Salinity Stress on Flowering and Biochemical Characteristics of Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum L.)

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of different levels of salinity stress and foliar application of 6-benzylaminopurine (benzyl adenine) on morphological and biochemical characteristics of winter jasmine in an experiment conducted in the Greenhouse Production Research Center of Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch in 2016-2017 growing season. The experiment was in a factorial form based on a completely randomized design with four levels of salinity stress (2, 4, 6 and 8 dS m-1) as the first factor and three levels of benzyl adenine (0 as control, 25 and 50 mg l-1) as the second factor in three replications (a total of 36 plots). The recorded traits included flower fresh and dry weight, flower number, the content of chlorophyll a, b, and total, carotenoids, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme of winter jasmine plant. The results showed that salinity levels and benzyl adenine foliar application had a significant effect on all traits. The activity of SOD was significantly higher in plants treated with 8 dS m-1 salinity than those treated with 2 dS m-1, and the highest enzymatic activity was recorded at the salinity stress level of 8 dS m-1. With respect to the effects of foliar application of benzyl adenine treatment, it was observed that this factor had positive concentration-depended effects on all traits. It can be concluded that although salinity stress had a negative effect on winter jasmine, benzyl adenine treatment minimized these adverse effects.