Hormone spray helps oilseed crop thrive despite salty soil
Climate Adaptation
If you've ever struggled with a garden bed near a de-iced sidewalk or coastal soil that leaves plants stunted, this hormone spray points to a low-cost trick that could someday help ordinary gardeners coax more growth out of salt-stressed ground.
Camelina is an oilseed plant that usually holds up well in tough conditions, but heavy salt in the soil still cuts its seed production nearly in half. Researchers in Iran sprayed the plants' leaves with a natural growth hormone called a brassinosteroid and found it dramatically reversed that damage, boosting seed yield by up to 76% and even increasing branching and plant height. It's a simple foliar spray that seems to help plants keep growing normally even when their roots are sitting in salty water.
Key Findings
At the highest salinity level tested (12 dS/m), untreated camelina lost 44% of its seed yield, but plants sprayed with 3 μM brassinosteroid saw yield increase by 76% compared to untreated plants at that same salinity.
Plant height rose by 33-95% and lateral branch count rose by 23-193% across all salinity levels when treated with 3 μM brassinosteroid, though leaf area index showed no significant response to the hormone.
The salinity-brassinosteroid interaction significantly affected every measured trait (P < 0.01), and biological yield and harvest index at the highest salt level improved by 50% and 18% respectively with hormone treatment.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Spraying a natural plant hormone called brassinosteroid on camelina crops helped them grow bigger and produce more seeds even when watered with salty water, offering farmers a way to keep oilseed crops productive on salt-damaged land.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Effect of foliar-applied brassinosteroid on morphological traits, seed yield, and growth indices of camelina (Camelina sativa) under salinity stress
IntroductionSalinity stress significantly impairs plant growth and yield and represents a major challenge to sustainable agriculture. Camelina (Camelina sativa), an oilseed crop, is well known for ...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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