Enhancing Salt Tolerance of Vicia faba L. by Electrostatic Fields: Insights from Physiological and Ultrastructural Analysis

One of the main abiotic factors affecting agricultural output worldwide is salinity stress, especially in light of climate change and growing freshwater constraints. The potential of electrostatic field (EF)- treated irrigation water as a novel strategy to mitigate the adverse consequences of salinity stress on Vicia faba L. is assessed in this study. The data revealed that application of EF-treated water significantly increased the photosynthetic pigment contents (chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids), size of chloroplast, photosynthetic efficiency, total carbohydrate content, total soluble protein, and activities of antioxidant enzymes (catalase, peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase) in salt-stressed V. faba (120 mM NaCl) as compared to the control (H2O). Furthermore, EF-treated water significantly decreased malondialdehyde, dichlorofluorescein, and caspase-3 activity in salt-stressed V. faba after three weeks of growth. The control plant possessed chloroplasts with well-developed granal and normal stromal thylakoids. NaCl application caused thylakoid swelling and severe damage. Conversely, the chloroplast of NaCl-stressed V. faba pretreated with EF-treated water effectively suppressed the distortion of the thylakoid membrane and the severe damage.EF treatment can be used as an ecofriendly, cheap, and readily available natural source with no harmful effects in eliminating the damage effects caused by salinity and increasing the overall productivity of the V. faba plant by reducing peroxidation of lipids and inhibiting the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, while considerably increasing photosynthetic pigments, photosynthetic efficiency, and antioxidative enzyme activities.