Abstract
Wheat is an important cereal crop, which is adversely affected by water deficit stress. The effect of induced stress can be reduced by the application of salicylic acid (SA). With the objective to combat drought stress in wheat, an experiment was conducted in greenhouse under hydroponic conditions. The treatments consisted of (a) no drought (DD0 = 0 MPa), mild drought (DD1 = -0.40 MPa) and severe drought (DD2 = -0.60 MPa) by applying PEG-8000, (b) two contrasting wheat varieties Barani-17 (drought tolerant) and Anaj-17 (drought-sensitive), and (c) foliar treatments of salicylic acid (0, 50 mM, 75 mM, and 100 mM). Evaluation of wheat plants regarding biochemical, physiological, and morphological attributes were rendered after harvesting of plants. Statistically, maximum shoot and root fresh and dry weights (18.77, 11.15 and 1.99, 1.81 g, respectively) were recorded in cultivar Barani-17 under no drought condition with the application of SA (100 mM). While, minimum shoot and root fresh and dry weights (6.65, 3.14 and 0.73, 0.61 g, respectively) were recorded in cultivar Anaj-2017 under mild drought stress without SA application. The maximum shoot length (68.0 cm) was observed in cultivar Barani-2017 under no drought condition with the application of SA (100 mM). While, maximum root length (59.67 cm) was recorded in cultivar Anaj-17 under moderate drought stress without application of SA. Further, minimum shoot length (28.67 cm) was recorded in Anaj-17 under moderate drought stress without SA application. Minimum root length (38.67 cm) was recorded in cultivar Barani-17 under no drought condition without SA application. Furthermore, maximum physio-biochemical traits, including membrane stability index (MSI), chlorophyl content, photosynthetic rates, stomatal conductance, antioxidant enzymatic activities and relative water content (RWC) were found highest in cultivar Barani-17 under no drought stress and SA application at 100 mM. However, minimum values of these traits were recorded in cultivar Anaj-17 under severe drought stress without SA application. Our results also demonstrated that under severe drought, application of SA at 100 mM significantly increased leaf nitrogen (N), phosphrus (P) and potassium (K) contents and cultivar Barani-17 demonstrated significantly higher values than Anaj-17. The obtained results also indicated that the cultivation of wheat under drought stress conditions noticeably declines the morphological, physiological, and biochemical attributes of the plants. However, the exogenous application of SA had a positive impact on wheat crop for enhancing its productivity.
Highlights
Wheat is a major food crop of Pakistan
In consistent with previous studies, the findings of our analysis showed that drought caused the reduction in root and shoot length, fresh and dry weights of both wheat cultivars, but this reduction was more tolerant to drought susceptible, salicylic acid (SA) foliar application reduced the harmful effects to some extent, yet SA application at higher concentration gave more positive effects [49, 50]
It can be concluded that the evolution of two varieties of wheat under drought stress was distinct
Summary
Wheat is a major food crop of Pakistan. Overall, it covers an area of 219.52 million hectares with production of 733.91 million tons in the world [1]. There is a desperate need to shield wheat crops from the detrimental effects of drought stress by adding SA to competing varieties, due to its contribution to global food security. It is well-thought-out that by providing a basic source of protein and carbohydrates, wheat is one of the utmost economically cereal crops and is associated with improvement of human nutritional dietary value [5]. It is of great importance to explore the sensitivity of various wheat genotypes to drought, with the intensified changing climate that caused the occurrence of drought to become more extreme [7] In this respect, various studies have shown that plants can experience drought whenever the supply of water across their root system has been diminished. This reaction is mirrored in the deficiency of leaf succulence, sclerophylly, and water saturation [8]
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