Monitoring Role of Exogenous Amino Acids on the Proteinogenic and Ionic Responses of Lettuce Plants under Salinity Stress Conditions

Abstract

Lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa L.) were grown under salinity stress conditions. Amino acids (histidine (His), lysine (Lys), phenylalanine (Phe), and threonine (Thr)) were individually applied to the seedlings to study their impact on the status of the photosynthetic pigments, ion absorption, proteinogenic metabolism, and peroxidase activity. Investigating the effect of exogenous amino acids on the metabolism processes showed their potential role in inducing salt stress tolerance in lettuce plants. Generally, a destructive impact on lettuce plant morphology was observed when the plants were exposed to salt stress. In contrast, the significant (p < 0.05) mitigation of salt stress was registered when EAAs were applied to the stressed seedlings while using Threonine and lysine enhanced the status of the plants under salinity stress. For the salt treatment, the maximum electric conductivity (580.2 μS/g) was reported while applying EAAs to stressed plants’ decreased EC, and the data ranged from 522 to 554 μS/g. EAAs decreased the chloride ions in the leaves by 23–30% compared to in the stressed plants. Additionally, the sodium contents were mitigated when the stressed plants were sprayed with EAAs. In contrast, applying EAAs enhanced the potassium uptake, and Thr gave the highest K+ contents (3022 μg/g). EAAs increased the chlorophyll content compared to the control except when histidine was applied, while the carotene contents significantly increased when histidine and phenylalanine were used. Endogenous amino acids are highly expressed in non-stressed lettuce plants compared to the stressed ones. Under salt stress conditions, the threonine usage increased the expression of proteinogenic amino acids except methionine and tyrosine. Compared to the salt-stressed plants, the peroxidase activity significantly decreased in the other treatments, which fell by over 32% when His, Lys, and Phe were applied.