Summary: | The present study was conducted to investigate the evaluation of antimycin A (AA) as a modulator of the alternative respiratory pathway (AP) on the intensity of growth processes and some physiological parameters of etiolated wheat seedlings, such as maximum length of root, length of first leaf and coleoptile, fresh and dry weights at the whole plant level, leaf area as well as relative water content, saturation water deficit, degree of leaf succulence and sclerophylly. Generally, exposure to heat stress (HS) alone caused a noticeable reduction in root length (59%), leaf length (30%), plant fresh mass (10%), dry mass (14%), and leaf area (25%) which was consistent with the progressive alteration in water relations. Furthermore, the degree of leaf succulence and degree of leaf sclerophylly were severely affected by HS in wheat seedlings. However, the results demonstrated that the application of AA did not induce such a significant reduction in the leaf length (23%), coleoptile length (5%), plant fresh weight (7%), plant dry weight (3%), and leaf area (21%) as well as water relations in etiolated wheat seedlings compared to heat-stressed plants. Taken together, the activation of AP promoted a mitigating of the damaging effect of HS in wheat seedlings supporting growth processes.
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