Abstract
Salinity is a major abiotic stress that disrupts ion balance, water uptake, and plant metabolism, ultimately reducing growth and productivity. Climate change, induced evaporation, and altered rainfall patterns are accelerating salinization, posing a challenge to soilless systems where water quality directly impacts nutrient availability. Basil, a salt-sensitive and high-value aromatic herb, shows marked physiological decline under salinity, including reduced water and nutrient uptake, impaired photosynthetic activity, disruption of ion balance, and increased oxidative stress. Here, we evaluated the potential of biostimulants-amino acids, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), fulvic acid, chitosan, and vermicompost-to alleviate salt-induced stress in basil grown with 50 mM NaCl in a floating culture system. Salt stress reduced leaf yield by 41.6%, stomatal conductance by 65.7%, and antioxidant enzyme activities. Among the biostimulants, PGPR and vermicompost were the most effective, increasing yield by over 90% compared to salt-stressed plants. These treatments enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities (APX, CAT, GR, SOD), increased phenolics, flavonoids, and vitamin C, and reduced lipid peroxidation (up to 74.3% lower MDA). Moderate improvements were observed with amino acids, AMF, and chitosan, while fulvic acid showed limited effectiveness. Overall, PGPR and vermicompost strengthened basil's resilience to salinity by reducing oxidative stress and enhancing physiological performance. These findings support their use as sustainable tools in managing saline conditions. Future studies should evaluate the biostimulant effectiveness under higher salinity and poor-quality water, and assess their impact on different basil cultivars, including essential oil and aroma-related traits.
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Claims 15
Claim · model-written summary
Salt stress reduced basil leaf yield by 41.6%.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Salt stress reduced leaf yield by 41.6%”
t0“basil”
Claim · model-written summary
Salt stress reduced basil stomatal conductance by 65.7%.
- Taxon
- basil
Ocimum basilicumt0 - Treatment
- Salt stresse1
- Outcome
- stomatal conductancee0
- Direction
- reducede1
- Value
- 65.7%e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“stomatal conductance by 65.7%”
t0“basil”
e1“Salt stress reduced leaf yield by 41.6%, stomatal conductance by 65.7%”
Claim · model-written summary
Salt stress reduced antioxidant enzyme activities in basil.
- Taxon
- basilOcimum basilicumt0
- Treatment
- Salt stresse0
- Outcome
- antioxidant enzyme activitiese0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Salt stress reduced leaf yield by 41.6%, stomatal conductance by 65.7%, and antioxidant enzyme activities”
t0“basil”
Claim · model-written summary
PGPR increased salt-stressed basil yield by over 90%.
- Taxon
- basilOcimum basilicumt0
- Treatment
- PGPRe0
- Interactor
- PGPRe0symbiont
- Outcome
- yielde0
- Direction
- increasinge0
- Value
- over 90%e0
- Comparator
- salt-stressed plantse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“PGPR and vermicompost were the most effective, increasing yield by over 90% compared to salt-stressed plants”
t0“basil”
Claim · model-written summary
Vermicompost increased salt-stressed basil yield by over 90%.
- Taxon
- basilOcimum basilicumt0
- Treatment
- vermicomposte0
- Outcome
- yielde0
- Direction
- increasinge0
- Value
- over 90%e0
- Comparator
- salt-stressed plantse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“PGPR and vermicompost were the most effective, increasing yield by over 90% compared to salt-stressed plants”
t0“basil”
Claim · model-written summary
PGPR enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities in salt-stressed basil.
- Taxon
- basilOcimum basilicumt0
- Treatment
- PGPRe1
- Interactor
- PGPRe1symbiont
- Outcome
- antioxidant enzyme activities (APX, CAT, GR, SOD)e0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“These treatments enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities (APX, CAT, GR, SOD)”
e1“PGPR and vermicompost were the most effective”
t0“basil”
Claim · model-written summary
Vermicompost enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities in salt-stressed basil.
- Taxon
- basilOcimum basilicumt0
- Treatment
- vermicomposte1
- Outcome
- antioxidant enzyme activities (APX, CAT, GR, SOD)e0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“These treatments enhanced antioxidant enzyme activities (APX, CAT, GR, SOD)”
e1“PGPR and vermicompost were the most effective”
t0“basil”
Claim · model-written summary
PGPR increased phenolics, flavonoids, and vitamin C in basil.
- Taxon
- basilOcimum basilicumt0
- Treatment
- PGPRe1
- Interactor
- PGPRe1symbiont
- Outcome
- phenolics, flavonoids, and vitamin Ce0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“increased phenolics, flavonoids, and vitamin C”
e1“PGPR and vermicompost were the most effective”
t0“basil”
Claim · model-written summary
Vermicompost increased phenolics, flavonoids, and vitamin C in basil.
- Taxon
- basilOcimum basilicumt0
- Treatment
- vermicomposte1
- Outcome
- phenolics, flavonoids, and vitamin Ce0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“increased phenolics, flavonoids, and vitamin C”
e1“PGPR and vermicompost were the most effective”
t0“basil”
Claim · model-written summary
PGPR reduced lipid peroxidation in basil, with MDA up to 74.3% lower.
- Taxon
- basilOcimum basilicumt0
- Treatment
- PGPRe1
- Interactor
- PGPRe1symbiont
- Outcome
- lipid peroxidatione0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Value
- up to 74.3%e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“reduced lipid peroxidation (up to 74.3% lower MDA)”
e1“PGPR and vermicompost were the most effective”
t0“basil”
Claim · model-written summary
Vermicompost reduced lipid peroxidation in basil, with MDA up to 74.3% lower.
- Taxon
- basilOcimum basilicumt0
- Treatment
- vermicomposte1
- Outcome
- lipid peroxidatione0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Value
- up to 74.3%e0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“reduced lipid peroxidation (up to 74.3% lower MDA)”
e1“PGPR and vermicompost were the most effective”
t0“basil”
Claim · model-written summary
Amino acids moderately improved salt-stressed basil performance.
- Taxon
- basilOcimum basilicumt0
- Treatment
- amino acidse0
- Outcome
- improvementse0
- Direction
- Moderate improvementse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Moderate improvements were observed with amino acids, AMF, and chitosan”
t0“basil”
Claim · model-written summary
AMF moderately improved salt-stressed basil performance.
- Taxon
- basilOcimum basilicumt0
- Treatment
- AMFe0
- Interactor
- AMFe0symbiont
- Outcome
- improvementse0
- Direction
- Moderate improvementse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Moderate improvements were observed with amino acids, AMF, and chitosan”
t0“basil”
Claim · model-written summary
Chitosan moderately improved salt-stressed basil performance.
- Taxon
- basilOcimum basilicumt0
- Treatment
- chitosane0
- Outcome
- improvementse0
- Direction
- Moderate improvementse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Moderate improvements were observed with amino acids, AMF, and chitosan”
t0“basil”
Claim · model-written summary
Fulvic acid showed limited effectiveness for salt-stressed basil.
- Taxon
- basilOcimum basilicumt0
- Treatment
- fulvic acide0
- Outcome
- limited effectivenesse0
- Direction
- limited effectivenesse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“fulvic acid showed limited effectiveness”
t0“basil”
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8 of 9 groups shown: named compounds and organisms first, then groups whose results differ (checked claim by claim), then those with positive and negative results, then the smaller groups.
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.