Paper Details

PJB-2026-1523

Influence of alanine and sorbitol on soybean growth, nutrient assimilation and antioxidant activity in salt-affected soil

Ping Huang, Wenwu Zhang, Shoucheng Huang and Airong Liu
Abstract

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Salinity stress has been proved to have detrimental effects to plant growth and development. This experiment investigated the effects of alanine (AL, 2 mM) and sorbitol (SB, 1.5%) on soybean growth in salt-affected soil. Four treatments were set: control, AL, SB, AL+SB. Results demonstrated that both AL and SB had positive effects, especially the combined application of AL+SB exhibited largest mitigation effects to salt stress. Under this treatment, the plant height (54.79%), stem dry weight (22.62%), leaf dry weight (30.54%) and root dry weight (20.08%) increased significantly compared to the control. In addition, the contents of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and total chlorophyll were enhanced by 17.00%, 100.00%, and 45.60%, respectively, while the electrolyte leakage reduced by 23.06%, suggesting improved membrane stability. Furthermore, the treatment promoted the accumulation of K⁺ and Ca²⁺ in leaves and stems. SOD, POD, CAT and APX activities were significantly reduced in this treatment, suggesting a lower oxidative burden. The findings underline that application of 2 mM alanine and 1.5% sorbitol as well as their combination is a potential integrated strategy for enhancing soybean growth, photosynthesis, and stress resilience in saline soils.

 

To Cite this article: Huang, P., W. Zhang, S. Huang and A. Liu. 2026. Influence of alanine and sorbitol on soybean growth, nutrient assimilation and antioxidant activity in salt-affected soil. Pak. J. Bot., 58(3): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2026-3(19)  
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