Benzoic acid versus salicylic acid efficacy in regulating growth, accumulation of secondary metabolites and NO₃ content of Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris L. var. cicla).

Authors

Nora A AbdelMotlb, Gamal S Riad, Dina M Salama, Sabry M Youssef, Salama A Abd Elhady, Mostafa G Shahin, Hani S Saudy, Amr A Metwally

Published in

BMC plant biology. Volume 26. Issue 1. Jul 28, 2026. Epub Jul 28, 2026.

Abstract

Salicylic acid (SA) and benzoic acid (BA) are important phenolic regulators involved in plant growth and defense; however, their comparative roles in modulating growth and secondary metabolites production in leafy vegetables remain unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the influence of exogenous SA and BA on growth, mineral composition, and bioactive compound accumulation in Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris L. var. cicla).
Field experiments were conducted over two successive seasons of 2023/24 and 2024/25 to assess the influence of SA and BA on Swiss chard cv. Ruby Red. Plants were treated with SA and BA at 1, 2, and 3 mM, each alongside an untreated control. Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Beside the agronomic attributes, photosynthetic pigments, total phenols, total flavonoids, total antioxidant activity, total indoles, anthocyanin, nitrate, and mineral content were assayed.
Both SA and BA significantly improved growth parameters, mineral content, and secondary metabolites accumulation compared to the control. SA at 1 mM or BA 1 mM were the most effective treatments, showing the highest significant values of vegetative parameters, photosynthetic pigments, total phenolics, total flavonoids, total antioxidant activity, total indoles, anthocyanin, and mineral content. Further, BA 1 mM was the potent treatment for lowering leaf nitrate content, showing the lowest nitrate content, which was significantly lower than SA at 2 and 3 mM. Correlation analysis revealed strong positive relationships between growth parameters and secondary metabolites.
BA behaves influence similar to SA for enhancing leaves yield with higher efficacy in reducing nitrate content via enhancing the efficiency of photosynthetic pigments and regulating various secondary metabolites. Herein, BA at low concentration (1 mM) is a promising rate to be applied to obtain high yield with good quality.

PMID:
42521988
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 29 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.