Strigolactone-mediated regulation of physiological, biochemical, and gene expression responses enhances salinity tolerance in strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa)

Authors

• NORA M. AL ABOUD, Department of Biology, College of Science, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi ArabiaFollow
• AISHAH ALATAWI, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi ArabiaFollow
• MARYAM Maryam, Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, The Sadiq College Women University, Bahawalpur, PakistanFollow
• MİKDAT ŞİMŞEK, Department of Plant and Animal Production, Health Services Vocational School, Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University, Ankara, TürkiyeFollow
• ADEL A. REZK, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Agricultural and Food Science, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi ArabiaFollow
• HOSSAM S. El-BELTAGI, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Agricultural and Food Science, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi ArabiaFollow
• BADER Y. ALSUBAIE, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Agricultural and Food Science, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi ArabiaFollow
• OTHMAN Al-DOSSARY, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Agricultural and Food Science, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi ArabiaFollow
• AHMED M. ISMAIL, Pests and Plant Diseases Unit, College of Agricultural and Food Sciences, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi ArabiaFollow
• ANVAR İBRAHIMOV, Department of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Nakhchivan State University, AzerbaijanFollow

Abstract

Salinity stress is a limiting factor that restricts growth, physiology, and fruit quality of strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa), particularly in irrigated and arid regions across the globe. The current investigation focused on unveiling the role of strigolactone (GR24, 5 µM) in the mitigation of NaCl-induced stress (100 mM) under greenhouse conditions. Salinity stress massively reduced plant performance, including fresh biomass (16.5 g), dry biomass (4.3 g), photosynthetic rate (7.9 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1), and fruit yield (6 fruits per plant), along with a decline in fruit quality (7.2 °Brix). In contrast, foliar application of strigolactone sig-nificantly enhanced the growth and productivity through restoring fresh biomass (26.5 g), photosynthesis (12.2 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1), and fruit yield (12 fruits plant−1). Improvement in strawberry fruit quality was also observed as a significant increase in TSS (9.1 °Brix) and acidity balance. Ionic homeostasis was also improved with the foliar application of strigolactone, as a reduction in Na+/K+ ratio (3.5 to 1.3), increasing K+ content (17 mg g−1 DW), and a reduction in Na+ accumulation (23 mg g−1 DW) was recorded, which resulted in improved membrane stability and reduced electrolyte leakage. Moreover, the antioxi-dant defense mechanism was strengthened, as displayed by increased SOD (72.4 U mg−1 protein) and POD (61.8 U mg−1 protein), while a reduction in MDA (19.3 nmol g−1 FW) and H2O2 (16.8 µmol g−1 FW) was also recorded. Expression of stress-responsive genes (FaMSD5, FaCSD7, FaCSD8, FaCSD10) confirmed the mitigation phenomenon. Current findings opened new avenues for researchers to validate at the field level and the interac-tion of strigolactone with other signaling pathways to optimize their application in sus-tainable agriculture, particularly strawberry production.

Author ORCID Identifier

NORA M. AL ABOUD: 0000-0001-2345-6789

AISHAH ALATAWI: 0000-0002-0529-9131

MARYAM Maryam: 0000-0002-9095-8612

MİKDAT ŞİMŞEK: 0000-0002-6108-088X

ADEL REZK: 0000-0003-0259-8387

HOSSAM S. El-BELTAGI: 0000-0003-4433-2034

BADER ALSUBAIE: 0000-0003-2693-5480

OTHMAN Al-DOSSARY: 0000-0002-1625-3710

AHMEDANVAR ISMAILİBRAHIMOV: 0000-0001-9679-640X

DOI

10.55730/1300-011X.3498

Keywords

Salinity stress, oxidative stress, phytohormones, membrane stability, physiology

First Page

717

Last Page

728

Publisher

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

M. AL ABOUD, N, ALATAWI, A, Maryam, M, ŞİMŞEK, M, REZK, A. A, S. El-BELTAGI, H, ALSUBAIE, B. Y, Al-DOSSARY, O, ISMAIL, A. M, & İBRAHIMOV, A (2026). Strigolactone-mediated regulation of physiological, biochemical, and gene expression responses enhances salinity tolerance in strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa). Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry 50 (5): 717-728. https://doi.org/10.55730/1300-011X.3498