Foliar spray of phyto-extracts supplemented with silicon: an efficacious strategy to alleviate the salinity-induced deleterious effects in pea (Pisum sativum L.)

Abstract

IntroductionAbiotic stresses drastically affect crops by minimizing yield. Plants face many distinctive abiotic stresses at different stages of plant growth and development. Among these stresses, salinity is prejudicious, limiting plant growth and productivity. Salt stress causes various deleterious effects on morphological, physiological, biochemical, and nutritional attributes. The formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is the significant consequence of salt stress. The major ROS comprise hydroxyl ( . OH), superoxide (O 2 .-), and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ). The high ratios of ROS are responsible for lipid peroxidation (LPO) of tissues and cause deterioration of proteins, green pigments, and DNA (Schutzendubel and Polle, 2002). However, nature has equipped all vegetations with a defensive antioxidant system to counter the oxidative damage caused by ROS (Apel and Hirt, 2004). Plant growth under saline conditions is highly associated with its antioxidant activities, i.e. superoxide peroxidase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), guaiacol peroxidase (GPX), and glutathione reductase (GTR) activities. High antioxidant activities will inhibit LPO by eliminating the ROS.Silicon (Si) is an excellent growth promoting agent. Silicon is reported to increase plant growth and stimulate productivity in various crop plants. Si application strengthened the plant biomass, height, and productivity under different stressed conditions (Ahmad et al., 2007). It also triggers growth by providing strength and extensibility to plant cells. It strengthens the endoderm of the mature basal cells and improves the extensibility of apical cells of the roots; thus Si contributes to a strong, extensive, and deep root system. However, it is also a vital element that has an excellent tolerance enhancing potential against abiotic Abstract: A pot culture study was conducted to assess the ameliorative effect of silicon, Melia azadirachta leaf extract, and sugar beet root extract, each applied individually or in different combinations, on salinity-induced detrimental effects in pea (Pisum sativum L.). Salinity markedly inhibited the growth, various gas exchange attributes, total phenol contents, membrane stability index, and productivity. On the other hand, lipid peroxidation, electrolyte leakage, H 2 O 2 content, antioxidant activities, and leaf free proline and glycinebetaine contents were significantly enhanced by salinity. However, exogenously applied Si and phyto-extracts markedly alleviated the salinity-induced drastic effects on growth, gas exchange attributes, and productivity. Both phyto-extracts supplemented with silicon gave highly salinity mitigating effects by markedly improving growth, gas exchange attributes, enzymatic activities, osmolytes, and yield. The phyto-extracts and Si suppressed lipid peroxidation, electrolyte leakage, and H 2 O 2 content by strengthening the enzymatic and nonenzymatic (proline and glycinebetaine) antioxidant defense system. The phyto-extracts and Si application also che...

Potential of Dual-Purpose Organic Amendment for Enhancing Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum M.) Performance and Mitigating Seedling Damage by Mole Cricket (Gryllotalpa africana spp.)

“…Piper-derived extracts demonstrated strong potential for mitigating insect pests [27][28][29]. The efficacy of the locally produced dual-purpose organic amendment is consistent with reports where Piper extract was effective as contact botanical insecticides in reducing insect pest damage, even when combined with garlic or lemon grass oil [28,48].…”

“…alkaloids, flavonoids, phenolic, etc.) with insecticidal and antifungal potentials for mitigating insect pests and diseases [27,29].…”

“…Similarly, Mucuna biomass influenced soil microbes and suppressed nematodes [25,26]. Correspondingly, Piper guineense seed extracts demonstrated strong potential for mitigating insect pests and diseases [27][28][29]. In addition, a combination of T. Diversifolia, P. Guineense and Oil Palm Bunch Ash served both as insecticide and fertilizer, which decreased sweet potato weevil damage and increased yield [30].…”

Response of Salt-Stressed Wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) to Potassium Humate Treatment and Potassium Silicate Foliar Application

“…Application of silicon decreased activities of antioxidant enzymes under salinity stress; this is associated with decreasing of electrolyte leakage, ROS synthesis and H 2 O 2 contents (Siddiqui et al, 2014 andShahid et al, 2015). More or fewer data were reported by Abbas et al (2015) that foliar application of silicon (150 mgL −1 ), decreased lipid peroxidation and increased antioxidant enzymes activities in both leaves and root of okra under salt stress.Similar studies showed that siliconmediated enhancement in antioxidant enzyme activities and decreased in oxidative stress in saltstressed tomato plants grown in sand culture (Li et al, 2015).…”

Management of Snap Bean Insect Pests and Diseases by Use of Antagonistic Fungi and Plant Extracts

“…These substances possess synergistic effects on retarding growth of pests and suppression of pathogens hence act as insecticidal and antifungal agents (Ahmed et al, 2012). Plant extracts have been successfully applied against insect pests and diseases (Shahid et al, 2015). In Kenya formulated products of neem and pyrethrum are currently used whereas a mixture of garlic and pepper has been recommended to manage insect pests (Infonet-Biovision, 2015;Ogala, 2013).…”