Differentiation of Barley Response to Drought and Salt Stress in Antioxidant Enzyme Activity and Free Amino Acid Content

To differentiate barley responses to drought and salt stress, barley seedlings at the second leaf stage were treated with 218 mM NaCl and 29.5% PEG6000 iso-osmotic to 218 mM NaCl for 6 days. Shoot fresh weight and leaf relative water content of barley seedlings were more reduced by drought compared to salt stress. Hydrogen peroxide content increased under both stress conditions, but its accumulation was more severe at 6 days after salt stress. The activity of ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase (GR) and catalase (CAT) was enhanced until 4 days after salt stress. On the other hand, the activity of GR and CAT increased gradually until 6 days after drought. Among the amino acids measured in this study, the accumulation of glycine, arginine and GABA ( acid) was lower under salt stress than drought. However, considerably larger amount of proline was accumulated by salt stress. It is concluded that the antioxidant enzymes activity and amino acid content of barley seed-lings were differently regulated in response to the isoosmotic condition of salt and drought stress.