Si INDUCED STRESS TOLERANCE IN WHEAT (TRITICUM AESTIVUM L.) HYDROPONICALLY GROWN UNDER WATER DEFICIT CONDITIONS

M. Maqbool, M. Amin, A. Ali, Dong Jin Lee, S. M. A. Basra, M. Tahir

Abstract: Present water scarcity is an emerging issue and cause of deterioration in quality and productivity of crops to reduce crop yield all over the world. Silicon is known to be better against the deleterious effects of drought on plant growth and development. The current study was conducted to test the ameliorative effect of silicon (Si) on a wheat; under water stress in rain protected net house conditions. Initially the nursery was raised in prewashed sand and then transplanted in pots each containing Johnson’s nutrient solution as a medium of plant growth. There were four treatments: Well watered (WW), Drought at -0.6 Mpa (DD), Well watered + Si @ 150 mgL-1 (WW+Si) and Drought at -0.6 Mpa + Si (DD+Si). The experiment was laid out in CRD with 5 replications. Silicon applied wheat plants depicted marked enhancement in root shoot fresh and dry weights in comparison to plants grown without Si. More over, they maintained higher water status with increased leaf water potential and relative water contents and higher chlorophyll contents. It was concluded that Si is beneficial to improve the growth of wheat via change in the physiological and biochemical traits.

Keywords: Na-silicate; salt tolerance; wheat

Date published: 2019-01-28