In the present study we analyzed the extent of oxidative damage as the rate of lipid peroxidation and antioxidative response in 5-day-old seedlings of two sesamum cultivars (cultivarYML-17 and Sweetha) under different NaCl stress levels (50, 100 and 150Mm). Salt stress resulted a significant increase in the rate of lipid peroxidation as showed in the levels of malondialdehyde content coupled with the increase in the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) in both Sesamum cultivars with increasing slat stress compared to their controls. However the cultivar YML-17 registered high antioxidant activity and lower lipid peroxidation than cultivar sweetha. These results suggest that salt stress causes oxidative stress in plants and the antioxidative enzymes SOD, CAT, POD, GR, and GST could play a pivotal role against oxidative injury.
