Molnár, ZoltánJuhász, LászlóSzalka, Éva2018-10-112018-10-11http://hdl.handle.net/2437/257578Salicylic acid (SA) plays an important role in plant defense. Its role in plant disease resistance is well documented for dicotyledonous plants, where it is required for basal resistance against pathogens as well as for the inducible defense mechanism, systemic acquired resistance (SAR), which confers resistance against a broad-spectrum of pathogens. The activation of SAR is associated with the heightened level of expression of the pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins, some of which possess antimicrobial activity. During the last 30 years, significant progress has been made in understanding SA metabolism and signaling in plant defense and its interaction with other defense mechanisms. As much as these studies have provided insights into the functioning of SA in plant defense, they also underscore how much remains unknown on the complexities of SA signaling in plant defense against pathogens. SA has been the focus of intensive research due to its function as an endogenous signal mediating local and systemic plant defense responses against pathogens. It has also been found that SA plays a role during the plant response to abiotic stresses such as drought, chilling, heavy metal toxicity, heat, and osmotic stress. Besides this function during biotic and abiotic stress, SA plays a crucial role in the regulation of physiological and biochemical processes during the entire lifespan of the plant. The discovery of its targets and the understanding of its molecular modes of action in physiological processes could help in the dissection of the complex SA signaling network, confirming its important role in both plant health and disease. In future, the exogenous application of SA might act as a powerful tool in enhancing the growth, productivity and also in combating the ill effects generated by various abiotic stresses in plants. Applications of SA holds a great promise as a management tol for providing tolerance to agriculturalcrops against the aforesaid constrains consequently aiding to accelerate potential crop yield in near future. Field studies were carried out to evaluate the effect of a salicylic acid containing product on winter wheat plants treated once, twice and/or three times in small plot experiment in 2016/2017. Physiological status of the plants was investigated according to their photosynthetic pigment content levels, as well as their salicylic acid content in the leaves during the vegetative phase. As a conclusion we can state, that one SA treatment in the middle of spring (end of April, early beginning of May) could enhance the physiological properties of winter wheat plants which lead higher yield results. Also, the commercial fungicide technology can be replaced by a maximum of three SA treatments.71enwinter wheateffectsalycilic acidSalicylic acid containing productproceedingstudományterületek::növénytudományok