Effects of salt stress on antioxidant defense system in the root of Kandelia candel

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to explore the active oxygen scavenging mechanism of Kandelia candel, in order to provide a theoretical basis for further analysis on the physiological mechanism of salt tolerance in mangrove plants. Different concentrations of NaCl solution (0, 150, 300 and 450 mmol/L) were used for salt stress treatments on Kandelia candel, physiological indicators in the root of Kandelia candel were measured in different processing time. RESULTS: With the increase of salt concentrations and processing time, the contents of total proteins in the root of Kandelia candel were reduced; the CAT activity, SOD activity, ASA content and MDA content all had decreased with the increase of salt concentrations and shown a trend from ascent to descent with the increase of processing time, the peak of ASA and MDA contents were observed at 6 h, that of SOD activity was observed at 9 h and that of CAT activity was at 12 h; POD activity had shown an overall upward trend with the increase of salt concentrations and processing time, which reached the maximum at 24 h; the variations of these physiological indicators were more significant in high concentrations of NaCl solution (450 mmol/L). CONCLUSIONS: A certain salt concentration (<300 mmol/L) was required for the growth of Kandelia candel seedlings. At the early stage of high-salt stress, Kandelia candel can rapidly activate antioxidant defense system to resist the salt induced oxidative stress, thus reducing the damages of oxidative stress to plasma membrane, which might be an effective means for Kandelia candel to resist high salt stress. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40529-014-0057-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.