Exogenous salicylic acid positively affects morpho-physiological and molecular responses of Impatiens walleriana plants grown under drought stress

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the exogenous application salicylic acid (SA) on morpho-physiological and molecular characteristics Impatiens walleriana plants grown under water deficit stress. Three levels soil contents (95, 85, 75% field capacity; FC) three SA (0, 1, 2 mM) were applied two impatient cultivars (‘Tempo’ ‘Salmon’). results showed that increasing stress negatively affected growth flowering characteristics. On contrary, foliar reduced adverse effect improved ornamental plant attributes. Water increased amount electrolyte leakage (EL), malondialdehyde (MDA), peroxidase (POD) ascorbate (APX) activities; proline content. expression gene encoding for ?1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CS) slightly control treatment (95% FC + 0 then significantly at after treatments. pattern P5CR (?1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase gene) similar P5CS, with differences in terms intensity. EL MDA through antioxidant activities balance. Overall, study ‘Salmon’ cultivar able tolerate drought conditions better than ‘Tempo.’ mM physiological indices drought-stressed impatient, mitigating detrimental effects important species.