Abstract
Soil salinityaffects the growth andyield of crops. The stress of soil salinity on plants can be mitigated by inoculation of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPR). The influence of PGPRinoculation on wheat (Triticumaestivum L.) crop productivity under salinitystress has not been properly addressed so far. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of various PGPR strains (W14, W10 and 6K; alone and combined) at several growth attributes of wheat plant under different soil salinity gradients (3, 6 and 9 dSm-1). The growth attributes of wheat (height, roots, shoots, spikes, grains quality, biological and economical yield, nutrients N, P and K in grains) were highly affected by salinity and decreased with increasing salinity level. The PGPR inoculation substantially promoted growth attributes of wheat and prominent results were observed in W14×W10×6K treatment at 3dSm-1. The results suggest that inoculation of PGPR is a potential strategy to mitigate salinity stress for improving wheat growth and yield.
Highlights
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major grain crops and staple food in Pakistan
Soil salinity significantly (p < 0.001) affected root of wheat; length and weight of root decreased with increasing level of salinity
Results of the present study are in accord with the findings of Dobbelaere et al [18] as they revealed that inoculation of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) (Azospirillum brasilense) promoted the growth of spring wheat in terms of enhancing seed germination, improving vegetative and floral parts as well as increasing dry weight of both root and shoots
Summary
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major grain crops and staple food in Pakistan. Wheat production stood at 25.492 million tonnes during 2017-2018 recording a decline of 4.4% last year. There are many reasons for low yield of wheat crop in Pakistan such as weeds, fertilizers unavailability, quality and unavailability of irrigation water, salinity and sodicity of soils. Soil salinity can cause ionic imbalance in plants due to the change in uptake, distribution as well as compartmentation of ions inside the plant [3]. These changes induce the osmotic stress by limiting absorption associated with water from the soil [4]. Salinity/sodicity leads to nutritional disproportion with an increase in uptake that associated with Na+ or reduced uptake of Ca2+ as well as K+, and reduces the mobility and transportation of the active growing plant parts which affect the quality of both the vegetative and reproductive organ [4]
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