Foliar applied fullerol differentially improves salt tolerance in wheat through ion compartmentalization, osmotic adjustments and regulation of enzymatic antioxidants

Abstract

Earlier we reported that seed pre-treatment with PHF promoted early seedling growth and salinity tolerance in wheat. As a way forward, experiments were conducted to investigate whether and to what extent foliar spray of fullerol could influence growth and physio-biochemical responses in salt stressed wheat. In a control experiment, seeds were sown in sand filled pots (500 g) under control and 150 mM NaCl stress. After 15 days, foliar spray of fullerol at 0, 10, 40, 80 and 120 nM concentration was applied and the data for various morpho-biochemical attributes recorded after 2 weeks. Fullerol caused improvements in shoot growth attributes while had least effect on root growth traits. Increase in total chlorophyll while reduction in Car/Chl ratio was evident under salinity in response to fullerol spray. Only 40 and 80 nM spray treatments improved antioxidant activities and reduced H 2 O 2 contents while MDA contents which increased due to salt stress, remained unaffected by foliar spray. Fullerol spray also improved sugars, proline and free amino acids under salinity. During second experiment under natural conditions, 60 day old plants grown in sand filled pots (10 kg) under 0 and 150 mM NaCl were foliar sprayed with selected concentrations (0, 40 and 80 nM) of fullerol. Salinity inhibited gas exchange and grain yield attributes while fullerol-sprayed plants exhibited recovery. Fullerol spray resulted in high root and shoot K ? and shoot Ca 2? contents. Also, increase in shoot and root P, while lesser shoot Na ? was recorded due to 80 nM spray under salt stress. Overall, 40 and 80 nM fullerol spray improved photosynthetic activity, osmolytes accumulation and altered tissue ion compartmentalization which contributed to improvement in grain yield attributes under salinity.

Negative impact of long‐term exposure of salinity and drought stress on native Tetraena mandavillei L.

“…However, the negative impact of salinity depends upon the number of climatic conditions, light intensity, plant species and soil conditions (Kamran et al, 2019; Parida & Das, 2005). In addition, a reduction in the plant growth rate and changes in structural composition as a result of high saline environments can lead to an alteration in the photosynthetic machinery, exclusion of ions, osmotic adjustment and nutrient imbalances (Hussain et al, 2016; Shafiq et al, 2020).…”

“…to maintain cellular homeostasis (Rehman et al, 2019; Zaheer, Ali, Saleem, Imran, et al, 2020). Previously, many researchers concluded that varieties of antioxidants have increased their activities under salt stressed environments in Vigna radiata (Islam et al, 2016), Triticum aestivum (Shafiq et al, 2020), and Plantago ovata (Kala, 2015). Additionally, drought conditions reduce the photosynthetic rates, expansion of leaves, increase stomatal closure, the levels of ROS and early leaf catabiotic, and decrease the translocation within the plant, resulting in overall decreased crop yields (Ahmad et al, 2017; Anjum et al, 2017).…”

Morpho-Physiological, Biochemical, and Genetic Responses to Salinity in Medicago truncatula

“…Due to the unpredictability of environmental conditions and the inability of plants to move in order to avoid unfavorable conditions, a number of abiotic stress factors threaten plant productivity and sustainability [1,2] Salinity is one of the main environmental stressors limiting crop production globally [3], it causes oxidative damages, ion toxicity, and nutrition imbalance [2,[4][5][6]. According to the United Nations (UN) Environment Program (UNEP), worldwide, approximately 50% of agricultural lands are now characterized as saline soils [6].…”

Ectopic expression of a novel cold-resistance protein 1 from Brassica oleracea promotes tolerance to chilling stress in transgenic tomato

“…Plants are well equipped with an effective ROS scavenging defence mechanism that include enzymatic antioxidants such as Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) ,catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) and some non-enzymatic antioxidants which protect the cellular structures and other macromolecules from damage caused ROS molecules 53 , 54 . We have observed that the hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) levels, as depicted in Fig.…”