Elevated concentrations of salts in soil and water represent abiotic stresses. It considerably restricts plant productivity. However, the use of alpha-tocopherol (α-toc) as foliar can overcome this problem. It can improve crop productivity grown under salinity stress. Limited literature is documented regarding its optimum foliar application on sunflower. That's why the need for the time is to optimize α-toc foliar application rates for sunflower cultivated in salt-affected soil. A pot experiment was performed to select a better α-toc foliar application for mitigation of salt stress in different sunflower cultivars FH (572 and 621). There were 2 levels of salts, i.e., control (no salt stress) and sodium chloride (120 mM) and four α-toc foliar application (0, 100, 200, and 300 mg L-1). Results showed that foliar application of 100 mg/L- α-toc triggered the remarkable increase in fresh shoot weight, fresh root weight, shoot, and root lengths under salinity stress in FH-572 and FH-621 over 0 mg/L- α-toc. Foliar application of 200 mg/L- α-toc was most effective for improvement in chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll and carotenoids compared to 0 mg/L- α-toc. Furthermore, an increase in A was noted in FH-572 (17%) and FH-621 (22%) with α-toc (300 mg L-1) application under saline condition. In conclusion, the 100 and 200 mg/L- α-toc are the best application rates for the improvement in sunflower FH-572 and FH-621 growth, chlorophyll contents and gas exchange attributes. Further investigations are needed to select a better foliar application rate between 100 and 200 mg/L- α-toc at the field level under the different agro-climatic zone and soil types.

Benha University Faculty of Agriculture Soils and Water Department Egypt

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

College of Life Sciences Yan'an University Yan'an Shaanxi 716000 PR China

Department of Botany Government College Women University Faisalabad 38000 Pakistan

Department of Botany University of Agriculture Faisalabad 38000 Pakistan

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

Department of Geology and Pedology Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology Mendel University in Brno Zemedelska1 61300 Brno Czech Republic

Department of Horticultural Sciences Faculty of Agriculture and Environment The Islamia University of Bahawalpur 63100 Punjab Pakistan

Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi 46000 Pakistan

Institute of Biological Sciences Campus Talca Universidad deTalca Talca 3465548 Chile

Institute of Biological Sciences University of Talca 1 Poniente 1141 Talca 3460000 Chile

National Committee of Soil Science Academy of Scientific Research and Technology Egypt

New Valley University Faculty of Agriculture Soils and Water Department Egypt

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