Fig. 3

Evaluation of salt stress tolerance of OsHBP1b over-expressing rice seedlings through phenotypic, physiological and antioxidant enzyme analysis. a Photograph of WT and OsHBP1b over-expressing plants under control (non-stress) conditions. b Photograph of WT and OsHBP1b over-expressing plants after 72 h of salt stress to 7 d old seedlings. Enlarged view of root morphology has been shown on the right. Note that a prominent difference in root morphology was observed where OsHBP1b over-expressing plants have longer roots with more secondary branches as compared to the WT under salinity. Bar diagrams showing (c) shoot length, (d) root length, (e) fresh weight, (f) electrolyte leakage, (g) K⁺/Na⁺ ratio, (h) protein content, (i) CAT activity, (j) APX activity and (k) SOD activity measured in leaves of seedlings after 7 days of salinity stress. The data represent means ± SE of three biological triplicates. Single asterisk show significant difference at p < 0.005 and double asterisk at p < 0.001