Unlocking Heat Resilience: Strategies for Enhancing Mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) Thermotolerance with Heat Priming and Salicylic Acid Foliar Treatment
摘要
Rising global temperatures pose a significant challenge to summer food legumes, such as mungbean. This study evaluates the effectiveness of heat priming (HP) and foliar spray of salicylic acid (SA) in enhancing heat tolerance in mungbean. The mungbean genotype IPM 312–19 were grown under field conditions with two different sowing times: (1) normal sowing in March, with maximum daytime temperatures below 40 °C and (2) late sowing in April, with maximum daytime temperatures exceeding 40 °C. The genotypes underwent HP (5 h) at 40 °C before sowing and SA foliar treatment (1 mM) was applied at 45 days after sowing (DAS). Under late sown (LS) conditions, increases in anthocyanin content, flavonoid content, and antioxidant enzyme activity were observed compared to normal sown (NS) conditions. HP at 40 °C and SA foliar application (1 mM) boosted antioxidant enzyme activities. Transpiration rate and stomatal conductance were increased during LS conditions. However, LS conditions resulted in reduced chlorophyll content, nitrogen balance index (NBI), and yield compared to NS conditions.Yield attributes, including seeds per pod (25%) and seed yield (21%), declined under LS conditions. Notably, SA foliar application (1 mM) significantly improved yield attributes compared to HP at 40 °C. These findings highlight the potential of SA foliar treatment as a promising strategy to enhance heat tolerance and yield characteristics in mungbean plants under heat-stress conditions. The application of seed priming and foliar SA significantly improves mungbean yield under heat stress by enhancing plant growth, photosynthetic efficiency, and grain-filling capacity. These treatments can serve as practical agronomic tools for improving crop resilience and productivity in the face of increasing temperatures associated with climate change. Future research should aim to explore a wider range of SA concentrations and optimize priming conditions for effective treatments across different cultivars and environmental settings.