Effect of Salicylic Acid (SA) on Growth and Quality of Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bert.) Under Salt Stress

Two pot experiments were conducted at the Experimental Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt during consecutive seasons of 2010 and 2011 to evaluate the morphological and chemical behaviors resulting from inducing salinity tolerant in stevia plant induced by salicylic acid foliar application at rates of 0, 50, 75 and 100 mgl under irrigation with different saline water 1 (0.4, 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 dSm ). The obtained results indicated that increasing irrigation water salinity level from 1 0.4, 2.5 to 5.0 and/or 10.0 dSm induced significantly decrease in all studied growth characters at all cutting 1 in both seasons. On the other hand, saline water irrigation increased stevioside percentage at all cutting in both seasons. Foliar spraying with salicylic acid at 100 mg/l concentration gave the highest significant values for growth characters in two seasons. The effect of the interaction between salinity and salicylic acid was the most effective treatments for growth characters values when stevia plants irrigated by level of salt concentration 2.5 dSm with foliar salicylic acid at 100 mg/l at all cutting in both seasons. 1