Exogenous strigolactones alleviate the photosynthetic inhibition and oxidative damage of cucumber seedlings under salt stress

•Exogenous strigolactones alleviate salt stress damage of cucumber seedlings by regulating photosynthesis.•The H2O2 and MAPK cascade pathway participates in the process of exogenous strigolactones alleviating the salt stress of cucumber.•Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the process of strigolactones alleviating the salt stress of cucumber seedlings were identified by RNA-seq.