Organic Amendments Improved the Productivity and Bio-Fortification of Fine Rice by Improving Physiological Responses and Nutrient Homeostasis under Salinity Stress

Abstract

Salinity stress (SS) is major abiotic stress that is seriously limiting crop production across the globe. The application of organic amendments (OA) mitigate the effects of salinity and improves soil health and crop production on a sustainable basis. However, limited studies are conducted to determine the impact of farmyard manure (FYM) and press mud (PM) on the performance of rice crop. Therefore, we performed this study to determine the impacts of FYM and PM on the growth, physiological and biochemical attributes, yield, and grain bio-fortification of rice crop under SS. The experiment was comprised of SS levels; control, 6 and 12 dS m−1 SS and OA; control, FYM: 5%, press mud 5% and combination of FYM (5%) + PM (5%). Soil salinity imposed deleterious impacts on the growth, yield, and grain quality of rice, however, OA appreciably offset the deleterious impacts of SS and improved the growth, yield, and grain bio-fortification of rice crop. The combined application of FYM + PM improved the growth and yield of rice through an increase in chlorophyll contents, leaf water contents, anti-oxidant activities (ascorbate peroxidise: APX; catalase: CAT, peroxidise: POD and ascorbic acid: AsA), K+ accumulation and decrease in Na+/K+ ratio, electrolyte leakage, malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), Na+ accumulation. Moreover, the combined application of FYM + PM significantly improved the grain protein (5.84% and 12.90%), grain iron (40.95% and 42.37%), and grain zinc contents (36.81% and 50.93%) at 6 and 12 dS m−1 SS. Therefore, this study suggested that the application of FYM and PM augmented the growth, yield, physiology, biochemistry, and grain bio-fortification of rice and proved to be a good practice for better rice production in salt-affected soils.

Effects of exogenous brassinolide and AM fungi on growth, photosynthetic characteristics and antioxidant enzyme system of Leymus chinensis under salt and alkali stress

“…This study reported that contents of chlorophyll a+b in L. chinensis was significantly decreased under salt-alkali stress. At the same time inoculated AM fungus inoculation significantly increased the synthesis of both chlorophyll contents possibly by increasing the uptake of important nutrients (iron and magnesium) that are considered to play a fundamental role in chlorophyll synthesis (Cao et al, 2021;Aouz et al, 2023;Khan et al, 2023b). This study further showed that under saline-alkali stress, gas exchange parameters (Pn, Gs, Tr) and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (Fv/Fm, ΦPSⅡ, qP), were significantly decreased.…”

Management of plant nutrient dynamics under alkaline soils through graded application of pressmud and gypsum

“…In similar line, Ahmed et al [ 45 ] reported that addition of pressmud and elemental S improved the soil properties and enhanced productivity of wheat and pearl millet cropping system. It was also observed that addition of 5% FYM and 5% PM in 12 dS/m improved the plant nutrient dynamics and enhanced the protein and micronutrient concentration in rice crop [ 46 ].…”

Soil acidification and salinity: the importance of biochar application to agricultural soils

“…Soil salinity is a dangerous stress that hinders plant growth by altering plant morphological, physio-biochemical, and molecular processes ( Zörb et al., 2019 ; Hoque et al., 2022a ; Imran et al., 2022 ; Khan et al., 2023 ). Every year around the globe 1-2% of cultivated soils are reduced due to salinity and about 23% of arable land (800 million hectares) is salt affected which is a serious threat to food production ( Alqahtani et al., 2019 ).…”