The Influence of Salt Stress on the Content of Vitamin C in the Leaves of some Varieties and Lines of Bitter Cucumber (Momordica charantia)

Abstract

Bitter cucumber is a tropical and subtropical plant with a long history of medicinal use. Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress that affects the morphology and physiology of plants leading to reduced growth, production yield or in some cases their death. Salt stress increases the accumulation of reactive oxygen species in plants. They developed adaptation mechanisms by increasing the level of antioxidants, including vitamin C. The aim was to estimate the amount of vitamin C in the studied plants to determine the ability to adapt to salinity and improve nutritional properties. To carry out the experiment, two varieties and three experimental lines of bitter cucumber subjected to saline stress through treatments with saline solutions of different concentrations were used. The estimation of vitamin C content was carried out by UV-Vis spectrophotometry using the calibration curve method with standard L-ascorbic acid and KMnO₄. After performing the analysis of variance on the varieties and lines of bitter cucumber, subjected to salt stress by applying the two treatments, it was found that the accumulation of vitamin C was insignificantly influenced by the factor a-the number of the treatment, but it was significantly influenced by the factor b-the concentration saline solution.