Background and objective: Simmondsia chinensis (Link) Schneider grows as an important economic and medical plant in deserts. It suffers from salt stress during the first period of growth despite having to endure it after an advanced age. More than 30% of irrigated lands worldwide are destructively impacted by salt stress, which enormously influences the growth and productivity of several crops worldwide. Proline (Pro) aggregation has been correlated with salt tolerance. This treatise was conducted to evaluate the impact of Pro on the negative effects of salinity.
Materials and methods: In this experiment, sodium chloride (NaCl) (5 and 10 dS m-1) and Pro treatments (10 and 20 mM) were examined and then growth parameters, relative water content (RWC), chlorophyll and inorganic ion contents of jojoba plant were determined.
Results: Salt stress significantly minimized the growth parameters (i.e., plant height, branch number/plant, leaf number/plant and dry weight), RWC, chlorophyll and N+ and K+ contents, whereas Na+ and Cl- contents showed the opposite manner.
Conclusion: Contrariwise, when Pro was applied at 10 and 20 mM, the adverse effects of salt stress on the previous parameters were mitigated; 20 mM Pro treatment showed superior effects compared with 10 mM treatment.
Keywords: Jojoba plant; RWC; chlorophyll; inorganic ions; proline; salt stress.