EFFICACY OF SALICYLIC ACID ON MORPHOLOGICAL AND QUALITY PARAMETERS OF STRAWBERRY CV. CHANDLER FRUIT UNDER SALINITY CONDITIONS IN GREENHOUSE

Abstract

Strawberries belong to the Rosaceae family and are mostly grown in subtropical and temperate regions. Salinity is a hindrance to the potential yield of strawberries in Pakistan. The current experiment was designed to evaluate the impact of salicylic acid (SA) on reducing salinity stress in the strawberry cv. "Chandler. In this experiment, four levels of salicylic acid (SA) concentrations (0, 0.25, 0.50, 1.0mM) as well as four levels of NaCl (0, 60, 90, 120mM) were applied before flowering. The morphological parameters, including vegetative, reproductive and quality aspects, were examined. The treatment combination with 1mM SA and 90mM NaCl showed the best performance. Experimental results show that the morphological parameters, including plant height, leaf area, crown size, canopy spread, and fresh and dry plant weight, as well as the average number of trusses, flowers, and fruit set proportion, fruit yield, and sugar content, increase with an increase in salicylic acid concentration. The experimental result showed that the application of 1mM SA combined with 90mM NaCl for strawberry plants can effectively reduce salinity stress and improve the vegetative growth, fruit yield, and quality.