Silicon Seed Priming as a Strategy for Enhancing Salt Tolerance in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.): Insights into Physiological and Biochemical Adaptations

Silicon (Si) has been identified as a means of recovering plant resistance against abiotic and biotic pressures. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is comparatively vulnerable to saline stress conditions. Seed priming is a valuable procedure that could decrease salinity stress's hostile effects on crop plants. Seed priming is a durable and operative procedure that progresses the efficiency of abiotically stressed vegetation in terms of adaptive physiological and biochemical changes. This study aimed to validate the effects of priming wheat seeds with silicon (Si) under varying levels of salinity stress on a range of growth and physio-biochemical parameters. Wheat seeds were raised in pots and grown under graded (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5mM) levels of salinity stress without or with Si (1.5mM) for 30 days. The results revealed that salinity stress lowered growth and photosynthetic characteristics (leaf gas exchange and pigments). Still, it also raised oxidative stress biomarkers, osmolytes, antioxidant enzyme gadgets, and contents of Na+ and Cl-. The Si priming to salt-stressed wheat plants regulated the growth and physio-biochemical attributes under salt stress by modifying various adaptive morphological and biochemical underlying mechanisms. The Si priming improved growth and photosynthetic traits, mineral nutrients, antioxidants, and osmolytes but reduced oxidative stress biomarkers, Na+ and Cl- contents. Thus, Si priming to wheat plants could palliate the salt-stress induced harmful effects. Considering these outcomes, we propose that Si priming to wheat seedlings was more associated with improved adaptive growth and physio-biochemical attributes under salinity stress.