Soil salinity disrupts the physiological and biochemical processes of crop plants and ultimately leads to compromising future food security. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a contributor to nitric oxide (NO), holds the potential to alleviate abiotic stress effects and boost tolerance in plants, whereas less information is available on its role in salt-stressed lentils. We examined the effect of exogenously applied SNP on salt-stressed lentil plants by monitoring plant growth and yield-related attributes, biochemistry of enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD)) amassing of leaf malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Salinity stress was induced by NaCl application at concentrations of 50 mM (moderate salinity) and 100 mM (severe salinity), while it was alleviated by SNP application at concentrations of 50 µM and 100 µM. Salinity stress severely inhibited the length of roots and shoots, the relative water content, and the chlorophyll content of the leaves, the number of branches, pods, seeds, seed yield, and biomass per plant. In addition, MDA, H2O2 as well as SOD, CAT, and POD activities were increased with increasing salinity levels. Plants supplemented with SNP (100 µM) showed a significant improvement in the growth- and yield-contributing parameters, especially in plants grown under moderate salinity (50 mM NaCl). Essentially, the application of 100 µM SNP remained effective to rescue lentil plants under moderate salinity by regulating plant growth and biochemical pathways. Thus, the exogenous application of SNP could be developed as a useful strategy for improving the performance of lentil plants in salinity-prone environments.

College of Agriculture Bahauddin Zakariya University Bahadur Sub Campus Layyah Layyah 31200 Pakistan

Department of Agronomy Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan 60000 Pakistan

Department of Agronomy Faculty of Agriculture Kafrelsheikh University Kafrelsheikh 33156 Egypt

Department of Agronomy Faculty of Agriculture University of Poonch Rawalakot Rawalakot 12350 Pakistan

Department of Agronomy Ghazi University Dera Ghazi Khan 32200 Pakistan

Department of Agronomy MNS University of Agriculture Multan 60000 Pakistan

Department of Biology College of Science Taif University P O Box 11099 Taif 21944 Saudi Arabia

Department of Botany and Plant Physiology Faculty of Agrobiology Food and Natural Resources Czech University of Life Sciences Prague Kamycka 129 165 00 Prague Czech Republic

Department of Plant Physiology Slovak University of Agriculture Nitra Tr A Hlinku 2 949 01 Nitra Slovakia

Departments of Soil Science Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technology Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan Punjab 60800 Pakistan

Depatment of Agronomy Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University Dinajpur 5200 Bangladesh

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