ECOPHYSIOLOGY AND GROWTH OF BASIL (Ocimum basilicum) UNDER SALINE STRESS AND SALICYLIC ACID

Salinity is one of the major problems of modern agriculture, affecting physiological, growth and plant production. Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is a plant widely used in cooking, and in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. Salicylic acid can be a strategy to mitigate the harmful effects of saline stress on basil plant. The present study aimed to evaluate plants with, gas exchange, chlorophyll a fluorescence and chlorophyll indices of basil (cv. Cinnamon) plants under saline stress and salicylic acid. The experimental design was a randomized block design in a 5x5 incomplete factorial scheme generated through the central composite design. The factors we five electrical conductivities of irrigation water (ECw– 0.5, 1.3, 3.25, 5.2 and 6.0 dS m-1) and five doses of salicylic acid (SA– 0.0, 0.29, 1.0, 1.71 and 2.0 mM), with five replications and two plants per replicate. Growth, gas exchange, chlorophyll a fluorescence and chlorophyll indices of O. basilicum cv. Cinnamon were evaluated. Canonical variables analysis and confidence ellipses (p ≤ 0.01) were performed to study the interrelationship between variables and factors. Salicylic acid alleviated the deleterious effects of salt stress on growth, gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence and chlorophyll indices of basil.