Collaborative Impact of Compost and Beneficial Rhizobacteria on Soil Properties, Physiological Attributes, and Productivity of Wheat Subjected to Deficit Irrigation in Salt Affected Soil

Abstract

Plant growth and crop productivity under unfavorable environmental challenges require a unique strategy to scavenge the severely negative impacts of these challenges such as soil salinity and water stress. Compost and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) have many beneficial impacts, particularly in plants exposed to different types of stress. Therefore, a field experiment during two successive seasons was conducted to investigate the impact of compost and PGPR either separately or in a combination on exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), soil enzymes (urease and dehydrogenase), wheat physiology, antioxidant defense system, growth, and productivity under deficient irrigation and soil salinity conditions. Our findings showed that exposure of wheat plants to deficit irrigation in salt-affected soil inhibited wheat growth and development, and eventually reduced crop productivity. However, these injurious impacts were diminished after soil amendment using the combined application of compost and PGPR. This combined application enhanced soil urease and dehydrogenase, ion selectivity, chlorophylls, carotenoids, stomatal conductance, and the relative water content (RWC) whilst reducing ESP, proline content, which eventually increased the yield-related traits of wheat plants under deficient irrigation conditions. Moreover, the coupled application of compost and PGPR reduced the uptake of Na and resulted in an increment in superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POX) activities that lessened oxidative damage and improved the nutrient uptake (N, P, and K) of deficiently irrigated wheat plants under soil salinity. It was concluded that to protect wheat plants from environmental stressors, such as water stress and soil salinity, co-application of compost with PGPR was found to be effective.

Application of Silica Nanoparticles in Combination with Two Bacterial Strains Improves the Growth, Antioxidant Capacity and Production of Barley Irrigated with Saline Water in Salt-Affected Soil

“…Likely, the contents of Ca, Mg, and N in plant tissues declined after increasing the NaCl content in the irrigation water [ 12 ]. Additionally, salinity injures the plant by decreasing the leaf water contents, nutrient balance, development, and plant productivity [ 13 ]. Salinity stress restrains plant growth due to its negative impacts on biochemical and physiological attributes [ 14 ] due to high osmotic pressure and ion toxicity (elevated Na + and Cl − ions), which is considered a limiting factor of the sustainability of agricultural production [ 15 ].…”

The Integration Efficacy between Beneficial Bacteria and Compost Tea on Soil Biological Activities, Growth and Yield of Rice Under Drought Stress Conditions

“…The main reason is that soil enzyme activity is closely related to the class, counts, and abundance of soil microbes (Wei and Yan 2018), and the metabolism as well as reproduction of a soil microbial community has been adopted to be influenced by temperature, precipitation and moisture over time (Zhang et al 2015). These results are confirmed in rice plant (Hafez et al 2019;Qu et al 2020); Eucalyptus plant (Ren et al 2020(Ren et al , 2021; maize plant (Khalifa et al 2021); wheat plant (Omara et al 2022).…”

“…These elements are very important for the plant growth, as they are involved in the formation of enzymes, amino acids, proteins and DNA, as well as in the processes of photosynthesis. Therefore, soil microorganisms and foliar spray with compost tea can increase plant nutrients by using traits that are appropriate and can be identified as growth promoters for plants (Khalifa et al 2021;Omara et al 2022).…”

Proteomic Analysis of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Leaves in Response to Date Palm Waste Compost Application

“…Indeed, the photosynthetic pigments increment registered in barley plants subjected to compost exhibited photosynthetic performance improvement following this organic application. In this perspective, several studies noticed an improvement in chlorophyll content and photosynthesis parameters in wheat leaves after compost application [ 4 , 15 ].…”

“…Compost is known to have a wide range of beneficial effects on plant growth promotion and development and soil fertility due to their high nutrient and organic matter content [ 2 ]. Furthermore, compost enhanced the antioxidant content in plants and consequently improved plant defense against pests and diseases [ 3 ] and alleviated the negative effects of environmental constraints such as drought and salinity which lead to promote crop growth, development, yield, and quality [ 4 ].…”