Brinjal is sensitive to salinity, a common factor responsible for reducing its biomass and yield components. Recent research has demonstrated that citric acid/citrates can provide abiotic stress resistance in plants. In this study, Brinjal variety Pusakranti was treated with four concentrations of CA at 0, 100, 200, and 300 ppm applied foliarly under two levels of salt stress (0 mM and 60 mM NaCl) during spring 2021 with four replication per treatment. Salt stress reduced plant growth and yield attributes, pigments as well as metabolites in plants. Antioxidant enzyme activities of the plant increased compared to the non-stressed plants. While 300 ppm CA concentrations oenhanced the shoot and root fresh biomass (75 % and 71.8 %) and dry biomass (82.5 % and 40.7 %), while 200 ppm CA application increased the fruits count by 50 %, fruit diameter by 49 % and leaf photosynthetic pigments by 61 % compared to only salt-stressed plants. Similarly, CA application enhanced the antioxidants both enzymatic and non-enzymatic such as catalase by 42 %, peroxidase by 66 %, superoxide dismutase by 44 %, polyphenol oxidase by 50 % and Glutathione peroxidase by 37 % compared to only salt stressed plants. Furthermore, 300 ppm CA application also promoted the content of primary metabolites such as total protein content by 75 % and total free amino acids by 32 % as well as improvement in secondary metabolites such as total phenols by 31 % and flavonoids by 96 % compared to only salt treated plants. Overall, the above described results suggested that the foliarly applied CA(200 ppm) is a proficient approach which effectively counteract salt stress in brinjal by improving plant biomass, pigments, primary and secondary metabolites as well as modulating the the antioxidant defense system of the studied plant.

茄子对盐度敏感，盐度是导致其生物量和产量成分减少的常见因素。最近的研究表明，柠檬酸/柠檬酸盐可以为植物提供非生物胁迫抗性。在这项研究中，2021 年春季，在两种盐胁迫水平（0 mM 和 60 mM NaCl）下，用四种浓度的 CA（0、100、200 和 300 ppm）叶面施用，对茄子品种 Pusakranti 进行处理，每个处理重复四次。盐胁迫会降低植物的生长和产量、色素以及植物的代谢物。与未受胁迫的植物相比，植物的抗氧化酶活性增加。300 ppm CA 浓度可提高地上部和根部的新鲜生物量（75% 和 71.8%）以及干生物量（82.5% 和 40.7%），而 200 ppm CA 的施用使果实数量增加 50%，果实直径增加 49%，叶片增加与仅受盐胁迫的植物相比，光合色素减少了 61%。同样，与仅盐胁迫的植物相比，CA 的应用增强了酶促和非酶促抗氧化剂，例如过氧化氢酶提高了 42%，过氧化物酶提高了 66%，超氧化物歧化酶提高了 44%，多酚氧化酶提高了 50%，谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶提高了 37%。此外，与之前相比，300 ppm CA 的应用还使初级代谢物的含量（例如总蛋白质含量）提高了 75%，总游离氨基酸含量提高了 32%，次生代谢物（例如总酚含量）提高了 31%，类黄酮含量提高了 96%。仅盐处理过的植物。总体而言，上述结果表明，叶面施用 CA（200 ppm）是一种有效的方法，可以通过改善植物生物量、色素、初级和次级代谢物以及调节所研究的抗氧化防御系统来有效抵消茄子的盐胁迫。植物。