Abstract
This study aimed to characterize if dust sprayed on soybean foliage impacts its yield and yield component characteristics. In 2017 and 2018, soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] was planted using a factorial randomized complete block design with three replicates. Plants were sprayed with a 20 g m-2 of dust at four stages of the growth cycle, including third-node, the beginning of flowering, the beginning of podding, and the beginning of seed formation. Dust spraying was then continued twice weekly until the late full seed stage. Plant measurements included yield, yield components, stomatal conductance, peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase antioxidant enzymes activities. Results showed that depending on the time of application, the dust coverage created a range of yield loss in soybeans, most likely due to a reduction in stomatal conductance, grains plant-1 and 100-seed mass. Therefore, soybean fields that are regularly exposed to dust might be subjected to reduced yield.
Highlights
Natural factors and human activities lead to the production of dust particles
Their values differed significantly between dust-treated and control plants, second, the lowest values were obtained when the dust was applied from the V3 stage, and third, after the control, the highest values were observed when the plants were exposed to dust from the R5 stage
We found that applying the dust from the vegetative growth stage caused the highest decrease in soybean yield and yield components, and at the same time, led to the highest increase in the antioxidant enzyme activities
Summary
Natural factors and human activities lead to the production of dust particles. In Iran, the primary sources of dust storms, which influence the western and central regions, originate mainly from the deserts of Iraq and Saudi Arabia (Pirsaheb et al, 2014). In July 2009, the dust had adverse effects on Iran’s agricultural lands and industrial areas (Hojati et al, 2012). In Yazd city, located in the deserts of Iran, the average airborne dust particles were more than 200 μg m-3 over five months, leading to a significant loss (between 3 % to 30 %) in crops yield (Shahsavani et al, 2011). Due to the dynamic characteristics of dust, particles with a diameter of fewer than ten μm can be transported by the wind for several thousands of kilometers (ZiaKhan et al, 2015)
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