Fig. 2

Salt-induced physiological changes in the leaves of XJ and ZM. XJ and ZM plants, about 30 days old, were treated with 0.5 M NaCl (salt stress) or kept in low-salt soil (control). After 1 week, leaf chlorophyll content (a), RWC (b), and MDA content (c) were determined, superoxide levels were visually detected by NBT staining (d), and the activity of antioxidant enzymes SOD (e), POD (f), APX (g), and CAT (h) were also measured. For chlorophyll, RWC, MDA, and superoxide level analysis, three replicates were used, and the activity of SOD, POD, APX, and CAT was determined from five replicates. All data are shown as mean ± standard error. Different lowercase letters represent significant differences between cultivars; different uppercase letters indicate significant differences between treatments (Tukey HSD test; P < 0.05)