Inducing Drought Tolerance in Rice Plants by Presoaking with Salicylic Acid

Rice needs more water, and therefore any water stress results in a reduction in overall yield and productivity. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of salicylic acid (SA) 0.5 mM on the morphological and physiological traits of rice plants during the tillering stage under drought stress. Rice seeds presoaked with SA showed better growth in 7 days old rice seedlings in terms of germination percentage, root length, shoot length and fresh weight compared to the control. Drought conditions were applied to rice plants after 35 days of transplantation in two groups, SA treated and SA untreated, for 7 and 14 days of drought stress conditions, respectively. All experiments were conducted in a totally randomised manner with three replicates per treatment. Leaf area and relative water content (RWC) reduction were significantly prevented in salicylic acid-treated plants under drought conditions. Our data suggest that, using exogenous SA as a presoaking treatment on rice seeds improved drought tolerance in the later stages of rice plants in coping with drought stress by preserving water content in rice leaves. This method is low-cost and accessible to farmers for protecting plants during the seedling and tillering stages, which also affect rice yield at the end.