Silicon nutrition and mycorrhizal inoculations improve growth, nutrient status, K+/Na+ ratio and yield of Cicer arietinum L. genotypes under salinity stress

Abstract

Salinity is a major abiotic stress that limits plant growth and productivity. Role of silicon (Si) nutrition and arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) in mitigating salt stress has gained importance in recent years. Legumes are sensitive to salinity and are considered low Si-accumulators. AM have been reported to increase Si uptake in mycorrhizal plants. However, little is known about the alleviative role of Si and/ or AM in mitigating salt stress in Cicer arietinum L. (chickpea). Therefore, the present study was aimed to evaluate the individual and cumulative effect of Si and AM (Funneliformis mosseae) on nutrient status, growth and productivity of salt tolerant HC 3 and salt sensitive CSG 9505 genotypes of chickpea under salinity stress conditions. The genotypes were subjected to 0, 60, 80,100 mM NaCl and 0, 4 mM potassium silicate-K 2 SiO 3 treatments in the presence and absence of AM fungi. The results indicated that the Si and AM treatments improve the endogenous nutrients profile, growth characteristics and yield attributes under salinity stress. AM was found to be more efficient in improving growth and productivity while Si was more beneficial in improving K ? /Na ? ratio. Mycorrhization mediated significant improvement in Si uptake and as a result, Si supplementation along with mycorrhization reduced Na ? content significantly, improved growth, yield and nutrient uptake, arrested chlorophyll pigment damage and increased RUBISCO activity. HC 3 was more responsive to mycorrhization and Si nutrition than CSG 9505. The study will contribute to our understanding of Si and/or AM mediated salinity tolerance mechanism for developing chickpea genotypes resistance to salt stress.

Nitrogen Enhances Salt Tolerance by Modulating the Antioxidant Defense System and Osmoregulation Substance Content in Gossypium hirsutum

“…Specifically, salt stress decreased the SL, NL per plant, biomass (Figure 1), photosynthetic pigment synthesis, and gas exchange attributes in both tested genotypes (Figures 2-4). Moreover, the higher reduction in the SS cultivar indicated a more severe adverse effect of salinity on the SS cultivar, which is consistent with previous reports [41,42]. Recent studies in tomato [17], wheat [21], Hordeum vulgare [43], Carrizo citrange [44], Spartina alterniflora [45], Sorghum bicolor [46], and Brassica [34] showed that higher nitrogen supplementation can regulate the salinity tolerance and improve plant growth.…”

Morphophysiological and biochemical response of savory medicinal plant using silicon under salt stress

“…Also, Si had a signiicant effect on plant dry weight, so that, with using Si, plant dry weight improved under salt stress (Table 2). Several studies have reported growth and plant biomass increase in Si application conditions, which is attributed to increased photosynthetic pigment concentrations and improved photosynthetic system (2,22). In our present study, plant exposed to Si application resulted in an improvement of photosynthetic pigments content under salinity stress and non-stress conditions.…”

“…Also, the results showed that Si increased the content of photosynthetic pigments under salt stress (Table 2). In several studies, Si application has been reported to increase the concentration of pigments (2,22).…”

Plant growth-promoting bacteria and silicon fertilizer enhance plant growth and salinity tolerance inCoriandrum sativum

“…The authors suggested that the enhanced growth and salinity tolerance might be due to the synergistic effect of bacterial inoculants and Si fertilizer. Earlier, Garg and Bhandari (2016a) documented that combined application of arbuscular mycorrhiza and Si complemented each other to augment salinity-affected Cicer arietinum growth and biomass production.…”