Effect of waterlogging tolerance in wheat (Tritium aestivum L.) at ear emergence stage on growth, biochemical and yield parameters in sodic soil

Abstract

Globally more than one-third of the irrigated area is under waterlogging which limits our wheat production and out of which northern Indo-Gangetic plains of India alone had 2.5 million ha affected by irregular waterlogging. So, to meet out the food demand of ever-growing population we have to find some alternates to harness the potential of the waterlogged area. With this point of view this investigation was conducted to study the changes in growth and biochemical behavior of wheat due to waterlogging at ear emergence stage in sodic soil and also to assess the traits conferring higher yield at experimental site of department of crop physiology, Narendra Deva University of Agriculture & Technology, Kumarganj, Faizabad (U.P.), India. The results showed that the genotypic variability exists for waterlogging tolerance in wheat varieties evaluated under investigation. HD-2009 which is susceptible to waterlogging gave poor performance in terms of growth parameters, biochemical behavior and traits conferring higher yield under waterlogging conditions at ear head emergence stage in sodic soil as compared to HD-2851, KRL-3-4 and KRL-99 wheat varieties. KRL-99 (1.80g yield plant -1 ) gave best results followed KRL-3-4 (1.37g yield plant -1 ) by under waterlogged conditions at ear head emergence stage in sodic soil.

Wheat Crop under Waterlogging: Potential Soil and Plant Effects

“…Several authors observed decreases in chlorophyll content with waterlogging. At the emergence stage, a 10-day’s stress induced chlorophyll reductions between 15 and 33% in four wheat genotypes [ 93 ]. At the tillering stage, reductions from 41% to 61% were observed in six wheat varieties subjected to 28 days waterlogging [ 80 ].…”

“…The ability to maintain membrane integrity under stressful conditions ensures cellular compartmentalization and the functioning of metabolic processes, being determinant to protoplasmic tolerance [ 83 ]. Waterlogging, as well as other biotic and/or abiotic stresses, can lead to changes at the membrane level, with structural impacts that affect membrane permeability, assessed through increased electrolyte leakage from cells [ 83 , 99 , 100 , 101 ], that may reflect severe membrane damage and low survival ability [ 93 , 102 ]. Therefore, membrane stability is frequently used as an indicator of tolerance or susceptibility to environmental stresses [ 83 , 103 ].…”