Abstract
Water deficit and soil infertility negatively influence the growth, nutrient uptake, and productivity of wheat. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and salicylic acid (SA) were evaluated as possible solutions to mitigate the impacts of water deficit on growth, physiology, productivity, and nutrient uptake of wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Sakha 95). Over two growing seasons (2016/2017 and 2017/2018) field experiments were conducted to examine eight combinations of two water treatments (water deficit and well-watered) with four soil and foliar treatments (control, PGPR, SA, and combination of PGPR + SA). The application of PGPR increased soil microbial activity resulting in increased field capacity and available soil water. Likewise, the application of the combined treatment of PGPR and SA significantly increased chlorophyll content, relative water content, stomatal conductance, soil microbial population, and showed inhibitory impacts on proline content, thus improving yield-related traits, productivity, and nutrient uptake (N, P, K) under water deficit compared to the control treatment. The results show that the integrative use of PGPR in association with SA may achieve an efficacious strategy to attenuate the harmful effects of water deficit as well as the amelioration of productivity and nutrient uptake of wheat under water-deficient conditions.
Highlights
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most strategic crops for food, feed, and biofuel security worldwide [1]
The findings revealed that application of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), salicylic acid (SA), and the combination of PGPR and SA led to significant impacts of the soil physical characteristics under water treatments (Figure 1)
Our findings showed that the physiological, yield-related traits and yield of wheat were significantly higher with the integration between PGPR and SA followed by individual application of SA and PGPR compared to the untreated treatment
Summary
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most strategic crops for food, feed, and biofuel security worldwide [1]. It is grown yearly on about 215 M ha worldwide with a production of 733.40 Mt in. In Egypt, the cultivated area of wheat grown during 2018 was 1.28 M ha with a production of 9.00 Mt, which is about 20% of the total cultivated agricultural land [2]. Wheat is providing as much as half of all calories consumed in the region. By 2050 consumers will require 60% more wheat than today [3]. Rapid population growth is applying great pressure to increase wheat production
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