Alleviative Effects of Zinc on Biomass Yield and Antioxidative Enzymes Activity in Leaves of Soybean ( Glycine max L.) Under Salt Stress

The present study was conducted to determine the interaction effects of zinc availability and salt stress in Bangladeshi soybean cultivar (cv. Shohag) whether zinc can alleviate the hazardous effects of salt stress or not. In this study, the plants are grown in zinc treated soil and also exposed to increasing (0, 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 mM NaCl) levels of salinity. The results showed that the dry weight of root, stem, leaves, petioles and total dry weight were significantly reduced by salinity. The activities of antioxidant enzymes, lipid peroxidation, proline content were significantly affected by salt stress. Zinc supplementation helped the plants to cope with the salinity stress by improving the total dry weight. The antioxidant enzyme activities including catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and proline content increased in response to salinity. The extent of lipid peroxidation noticed in salt stressed plants. However, zinc application enhanced catalase and ascorbate peroxidase activity as well as proline content in growing plants at different salt concentrations. The interaction between zinc and salinity significantly reduced lipid peroxidation. Application of zinc to salt-stressed plants ameliorates the salinity induced hazardous effects by enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes such as CAT and APX and Proline content.