Sulfur Dioxide Enhances Endogenous Hydrogen Sulfide Accumulation and Alleviates Oxidative Stress Induced by Aluminum Stress in Germinating Wheat Seeds

Table 2

Effects of SO₂ donor pretreatment on wheat grain germination under 15 mM Al³⁺ stress. Wheat grains were pretreated with 0, 0.4, 0.8, 1.2, 1.6, and 2.0 mM SO₂ for 12 h and subsequently subjected to 15 mM AlCl₃ for further 48 h, and then germination was investigated.

SO2 donor concentration; (mM)	0.0	0.4	0.8	1.2	1.6	2.0
Germination percentage (%)	37 ± 3.3^a	42 ± 2.7^a	44 ± 3.5^a	56 ± 3.8^a	48 ± 2.7^a	47 ± 3.1^a
Length of radicle (cm)	1.42 ± 0.6^a	1.72 ± 0.4^a	1.80 ± 0.7^a	1.82 ± 0.7^a	1.78 ± 0.8^a	1.62 ± 0.4^a
Length of coleoptile (cm)	4.64 ± 0.4^a	4.70 ± 0.6^a	5.20 ± 0.5^a	5.83 ± 0.8^a	5.40 ± 0.8	5.23 ± 0.6^a
Radicle number (50 grains)	127 ± 7.3^a	135 ± 8.1^a	139 ± 8.1^a	148 ± 7.9^a	130 ± 6.7^a	119 ± 7.1^a

Values are the means ± SD (). Different letters mean significance of difference between different treatments ( < 0.05).