Biofertilizers as agent against the harmful effect of salinity on wheat

Abstract

M o h am e d El anw a r H. O sm a n F a hm y A b d -E la zi z E l -K a d y El-S a ye d Ab d -El at i f Ab d E l -f a ta h F od a O m n i a So b h y M o ham ed H ash emBiofertiliz ers as agent again st the harmful effect of s al inity on wheat ABSTRACT:The objectiv e of this s tud y was to i nv estigat e the abilit y of Biogen and C yanob act eria as biofertilizers for substit uti on of norm ally used chemic al fertiliz er (Urea), and to ameli orat e the harmf ul ef fec t i nduc ed b y s alinit y on tw o wheat c ultivars S ak ha 93 (salt t oler ant) and Gemiz a 10 (salt se nsitiv e). Res ults s howed that application of tw o s alinit y lev els (100 and 200 m M NaCl) c aus ed reduc tions in the germinati on perc entag e and the growt h paramet ers (plant height, N o. of l eaves /plant , leaf area, No. of inter nodes, fres h and dr y weights of s hoot and root/plant) and in the rate of diff erent m et abolic proc ess es (photos ynthetic ac tivit y, tot al c arbohydrat es and prot ein cont ent) and mos t yield paramet ers (plant height, No. of spike/m 2 , spike length, No. of grain/spike, grai n weight/spik e, 1000-grain weight , carbohydrates and prot ein cont ent). O n the ot her hand, applicati on of each biof ertilizers significantl y am elior ated t he harmf ul ef fec t induced by s alinit y on bot h w heat c ultiv ars. Howev er, the am eliorative eff ect was mor e significant wit h biogen t han c yanobact erial fertilizers for both cultiv ars. In addition, the application of both biof ertilizers c ould reduc e the rec ommended dos e of ur ea b y about 50% . The am elior ative eff ect could be attribut ed t o changes in t he anti oxidant enz ym e activiti es and i ndicat ed b y red ucti on of t he phenolic compounds i n respons e t o t he diff erent biofertilizer treatm ent . Acc ordingly, w e recomm end the us e of the two biof ertilizers for parti al s ubstit ution ( 50%) of the normall y used chemical f ertilizer (ur ea). F urthermore, we rec ommend the use of both biofertilizer f or the s alt y land (100-200 m M NaCl). KEY WORDS:Biof ertilizers, salini t y, w heat CORRESP ONDENCE:Moham ed E l anw ar H . O s m an Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Egypt E-mail: elanwar_osman@yahoo.com I NTRODUCTI ON :Soil sali nit y is a maj or constr aint t o f ood production b ecaus e it limits crop yi eld and restricts use of land previousl y uncultiv at ed. The U nited Nations E nvironment Program estimates t hat approxim at ely 20% of agricultur al l and and 50% of crop land i n the world is salt-str ess ed. Natur al boundari es imposed b y soil sali nit y als o limit t he c aloric and t he nutriti onal pot ential of agricult ural production. Als o, it has b een estim at ed t hat more t han 50% of t he ar able land would be saliniz ed b y the year 2050 (J amil et al., 2011).Gener ally, salinit y i nduc es met abolic changes rel ated to prot ein tur nov er (alterations in protei n s ynthesis, m aintai ning the lev el of som e prot eins or protei n degradation) (Demirev ska et al., 2008). Salinit y...