Influence of salicylic acid on submergence stress recovery in selected rice (<i>Oryza sativa</i> l.) Cultivars

Rice is susceptible to flooding due to its semi-aquatic characteristics, which enable it to thrive in wet or submerged environments. The development of aerenchyma allows for oxygen transfer, enabling faster lengthening of submerged shoot organs. Rice's germination and early seedling growth phases shows a low degree of flooding tolerance, resulting in survival in low oxygen environments. The research involved a study on rice plants treated with salicylic acid at different concentrations. The 5% sodium hypo chlorite was used for to disinfect the seeds, while a reagent was used for submergence treatment. The plants were waterlogged for 11 days and submerged for seven days, with control plants receiving distilled water. The study found a significant difference between Jirani Zawara's control and treated plants, with plants treated with 2 g L–1 of Salicylic acid (SA) showing a 6.00 node increase per plant, and Faro cultivars having 7.00 nodes per plant which relatively higher compared to other cultivars. The study found significant differences between the control and treated plants, with the Jirani Zawara plant showing longer internode lengths and the Faro cultivar having longer internode lengths, while the BG cultivar had the longest. The research found that Jirani Zawara cultivar treated with 3 g L–1 of SA produced tallest plants, with heights increasing from 14.43 cm to 15.50 cm in Faro cultivar SA, and the highest height measured was 16.30 cm. The study reveals that salicylic acid significantly enhances the number of nodes, internode length, plant height, and root length in rice cultivars, thereby improving submerged stress recovery and promoting crop growth and development. Base on the findings of this research the used of SA is recommended to improve submergence stress recovery in rice.