Ameliorative effect of potassium sulphate on the growth and chemical composition of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in salt-affected soils

Abstract

Potassium (K) and sodium (Na) coexist on the soil exchange complex and soil solution. Both cations may exert antagonistic or synergistic effects on mutual absorption and translocation within plants, particularly under saline and saline-sodic field conditions. This study investigated the role of K in alleviating the adverse effects of Na on wheat [Triticum aestivum (L), Iquilab-91] grown at two fields sites varying in salinity. The soils were moderately calcareous, weakly structured, mixed hyperthermic Typic Haplustepts. Site 1 was silty clay loam saline-sodic soil (ECe = 4.23-9.45 dS m . Both sites were treated with 0, 50 and 100 kg K ha -1 applied as K 2 SO 4 (41% K) fertilizer. Significant increases of 14 and 30% in grain yield were measured at both sites, and 35 and 54% increase in dry matter yields were observed in clay loam soil with the application of 50 and 100 kg K ha -1 . Potassium application decreased leaf [Na] and significantly increased [K]; the K:Na ratio showed a positive correlation with yield. Soil analysis showed significant increases in [K], [Na] and SAR, while pH, ECe and [Ca+Mg] were not affected by the K fertilizer. The K 2 SO 4 increased crop yield by mitigating the adverse effect of Na and would thus be an effective source of K for crop production in saline and saline-sodic soils.

Effect of Potassium Sulphate on the Growth and Uptake of Nutrients in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Under Salt Stressed Conditions

“…The fertilizers showed positive effect on growth and development under salinity conditions. Similar results were reported that growth of rice and wheat crop increased significantly in response to application of potash under stress conditions (Hussain et al, 2013). It may be due to increase rate of photosynthesis as depicted that the rate of photosynthesis becomes enhanced by the application of potassium in stressed environment (Ali et al, 1999).…”

“…Potassium is macronutrients that used in the form of sulphate of potash (SOP) as K 2 SO 4 Under stressful environment, addition of potash fertilizers increased the growth and yield (Hussain et al, 2013). In present study, potassium was applied to alleviate the adverse effect of salinity and there was significant increase in lengths, fresh and dry weights of shoots and roots in both genotypes.…”

Alleviation of Salt Stress by K2so4 in Two Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.) Cultivars

“…In the present study, potassium sulphate was used to alleviate the negative effects of salt stress and an improvement in plant height, fresh and dry weights was recorded in both wheat cultivars. Positive influence of potassium on plant growth and productivity under saline environments has been reported by Rashid et al (2001) and Hussain et al (2013) as well. Indirect evidences are also available indicating that potassium and sulphate have central role in the construction of some important proteins (Khan et al, 2008;Khan et al, 2010), which are necessary to impart stress tolerance in plants ( Lee et al, 2009).…”

“…Development of plant depends particularly on the accessibility of appropriate amounts of potassium fertilizer (Kausar and Gull, 2014b), which improves plant growth and productivity (Hussain et al, 2013, Saffa et al, 2013 especially in the plants facing salt stress. These findings too are in accordance with those of Ashraf et al (2003Ashraf et al ( , 2015, and Kausar et al (2014).…”

Response of two halophyte plants (Nitraria schoberi and Halocnemum strobilaceum) to potassium sulfate under saline condition

“…On the other hand, increasing in Na + concentration will reduce the absorption of essential ions such as K (Gupta and Huang 2014). Thereby K fertilization under saline condition is suitable (Schachtman and Liu 1999;Garg and Gupta 1998;Sherif et al, 1998;Hussain and Khattak 2005;Cakmak 2010;Hussain et al, 2013;Kausar and Gull 2014).…”