Abstract
The experiment evaluated folic acid as a seed pretreatment intended to support barley under controlled saline conditions.
Soil salinity can restrict crop establishment, development and eventual yield. This study investigated whether externally applied folic acid could reduce the effects of sodium chloride on barley during germination and early seedling growth.
Seeds received a 50 µM folic acid pretreatment for 24 hours before salt exposure. The laboratory comparison used sodium chloride concentrations of 0, 0.25, 0.275, 0.30, 0.325 and 0.35 M. Researchers then assessed germination, seedling morphology and selected leaf-anatomy characteristics across the treatments.
What was measured
The assessment covered germination and vigour indices, radicle and coleoptile length, fresh weight, and anatomical features on both leaf surfaces. Leaf observations included epidermal and stomatal counts, stomatal index and stomatal dimensions.
Findings
Increasing salt concentration produced progressively stronger inhibition during germination and seedling development. In the reported experiment, folic acid pretreatment reduced several of these adverse responses. Treated barley showed improvements across measured germination, growth and leaf-anatomy parameters when compared within the experimental design.
The folic acid treatment also raised the examined values under the non-saline condition, with particularly clear differences reported for germination and vigour indices. The authors interpreted the overall pattern as evidence that exogenous folic acid participated in barley's response to salt stress.
Reading note: These findings describe one controlled experiment. Field performance may also depend on cultivar, soil properties, salt composition, water management and environmental conditions.