Effects of Environmental Stresses (Heat, Salt, Waterlogging) on Grain Yield and Associated Traits of Wheat under Application of Sulfur-Coated Urea

Adil Altaf,Min Zhu,Sadia Gull,Ma Quan,Xinkai Zhu,Muhammad Aleem,Fujian Li,Amir Zaman Shah,Dongyi Xu,Ahmad Zada,Sana Irshad,Xinbo Zhang

doi:10.3390/agronomy11112340

Adil Altaf, Min Zhu + Show 10 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11112340

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Abstract

Abiotic stresses, such as heat, salt, waterlogging, and multiple-stress environments have significantly reduced wheat production in recent decades. There is a need to use effective strategies for overcoming crop losses due to these abiotic stresses. Fertilizer-based approaches are readily available and can be managed in all farming communities. This research revealed the effects of sulfur-coated urea (SCU, 130 kg ha−1, release time of 120 days) on wheat crops under heat, salt, waterlogging, and combined-stress climatic conditions. The research was done using a completely randomized design with three replicates. The results revealed that SCU at a rate of 130 kg of N ha−1 showed a significantly (p ≤ 0.05) high SPAD value (55) in the case of waterlogging stress, while it was the lowest (31) in the case of heat stress; the control had a SPAD value of 58. Stress application significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduced the leaf area and was the highest in control (1898 cm2), followed by salt stress (1509 cm2), waterlogging (1478 cm2), and heat stress (1298 cm2). A significantly (p ≤ 0.05) lowest crop yield was observed in the case of heat stress (3623.47 kg ha−1) among all stresses, while it was 10,270 kg ha−1 in control and was reduced up to 35% after the application of heat stress. Among all stresses, the salt stress showed the highest crop yield of 5473.16 kg ha−1. A significant correlation was observed among growth rate, spike length, yield, and physiological constraints with N content in the soil. The SCU fertilizer was the least effective against heat stress but could tolerate salt stress in wheat plants. The findings suggested the feasibility of adding SCU as an alternative to normal urea to alleviate salt stresses and improve wheat crop growth and yield traits. For heat stress tolerance, the applicability of SCU with a longer release period of ~180 days is recommended as a future prospect for study.

Highlights

Feeding the world’s growing population necessitates having a greater focus on the efficient and particular use of scarce resources, such as fertilizers
Heat stress significantly reduces the photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll content, leaf areas, and grain weight, and crop yield per hector is reduced to half [7,8,9]
The experiment was conducted on winter wheat crop Yangmai 25 genotype for a fivestage growth period amended with sulfur-coated urea (SCU) having a release time of 120 days

Summary

Introduction

Feeding the world’s growing population necessitates having a greater focus on the efficient and particular use of scarce resources, such as fertilizers. Heat stress significantly reduces the photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll content, leaf areas, and grain weight, and crop yield per hector is reduced to half [7,8,9]. Waterlogging stress reduces yield, number of ears per square meter, grain weight, protein content, and levels of chlorophyll a and b while increasing proline levels [16]. Long-term waterlogging stress affected photosynthetic traits such as leaf area, stomatal density, and stomatal conductance in apple cultivars [18]. It has been proposed that wheat production must be increased by 60% to fulfill the needs of 9 billion people by 2050 [4,5] This will necessitate an increase in annual wheat production of at least 1.6%, which will require resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses and enhanced input use efficiency

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