Protective role of Luteolin against salinity-induced oxidative damage in Medicago sativa

Salinity is among the major barriers to vegetative growth which disrupts plant development, nutrient uptake and metabolic homeostasis. The overabundance of ions (sodium, chloride, etc.) has an impact on the important plant processes, and the death of the plants is frequent. Medicago sativa L. has moderate tolerance to salt with a reduction in development being experienced when high levels of saline stress caused by the addition of NaCl are absorbed. Antioxidant flavonoids have therefore been of focus with regard to their protective properties; one of the such antioxidant flavonoid is luteolin (LTON) which has been explored as a possible mitigating flavonoid against the damages caused by environmental pressures. This experiment compared the protective action of LTON (250 and 500 µg/mL) alone and in the presence of NaCl (50 mM) against morphological, physiological and biochemical parameters of M. sativa. The seeds were incubated for a period of 10 days and germination, root and shoot length, relative water content, oxidative biomarkers and in silico molecular docking were evaluated. The findings revealed that saline stress significantly inhibited the germination, root, and leaf growth, and enhanced the oxidative stress. The isolated LTON spurred germination and growth and when it was coupled with NaCl, it reduced the ill-effect of salt. These results imply that LTON has a great protective effect on saline stress in M. sativa and this may be linked to the antioxidant potential of LTON in promoting plant resilience.