*4.5. Quantitative RT-PCR*

The candidate DEGs in response to salt stress were selected to validate the reliability of the RNA-seq data using quantitative RT-PCR following the previously reported procedures [45,46]. Gene-specific primers were listed in Table S8. *BhActin* was used as a reference gene. Three independent biological replicates were performed. The results from gene-specific amplification were analyzed using the comparative *Cq* method, which uses an arithmetic formula, 2−∆∆*Cq*, to achieve results for relative quantification [47]. *Cq* represents the threshold cycle.
