Journal of Plant Process and Function

To investigate the effect of salicylic acid (0, 50 and 100 mM) on some physiological characteristics of henna, medicinal-industrial plant, under drought stress (0, -2 and -4 bar induced by PEG 6000) a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design was carried out in the research greenhouse of agriculture faculty of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman. The content of photosynthetic pigment, protein, antioxidant activity of catalase and poly phenol oxidase and dry matter production were measured as some physiological response of henna. All measured traits affected significantly by drought stress (p<0.01). The highest amount of these traits except the activity of catalase and poly phenol oxidase were recorded for non-stress condition. The only trait that was not affected by salicylic acid significantly was the activity of poly phenol oxidase. The application of 50 mM salicylic acid led to the highest amount of these traits. The interaction of salicylic acid * drought stress was significant only for chlorophyll a, total chlorophyll, protein content, catalase activity and dry matter. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that application of salicylic acid on henna could largely improve the deleterious effects of drought stress through modification of physiological responses.