Effect of salicylic acid use on the leaf gas exchange response of cherry plants under root anoxia

The demand for fresh cherries is increasing; however, extreme weather events under climate change have resulted in a significant decrease in cherry productivity. In this regard, intense erratic precipitation is resulting in waterlogging thereby causing a decrease in leaf gas exchange response of the plant due to root anoxia. The use of Salicylic Acid (SA) can be a solution to reduce the negative impact of such abiotic stress. In this study, the effect of SA on plants under waterlogging during spring was evaluated. Three treatments were evaluated for this study, T1 (no application), T2 (post‐harvest application) and T3 (pre‐harvest and post‐harvest application). The results showed significant statistical differences among treatments, without differences observed when applying SA from pre‐harvest to post‐harvest compared to applications only in the post‐harvest period. All the variables evaluated shown statistical differences, except for the net assimilation rate ( a n ). Regarding midday xylem water potential (Ψ x ), water stress was reduced by 44%, and with respect to transpiration rate ( T r ), stomatic conductance ( g s ) and a n there were increases of up to 114%, 156% and 20%, respectively.