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Combined application of zinc and silicon alleviates terminal drought stress in wheat by triggering morpho-physiological and antioxidants defense mechanisms

Sattar A 1 , Wang X 2 , Abbas T 1 , Sher A 1 , Ijaz M 1 , Ul-Allah S 1 Show all authors , Irfan M 3 , Butt M 1 , Wahid MA 4 , Cheema M 5 , Fiaz S 6 , Qayyum A 7 , Ansari MJ 8 , Alharbi SA 9 , Wainwright M 10 , Ahmad F 11 , Xie K 2 , Zuan ATK 12

Affiliations 

  • 1 College of Agriculture, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Layyah, Pakistan
  • 2 College of Life Sciences, Yan'an University, Yan'an, Shaanxi, China
  • 3 Department of Agronomy, Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Multan, Pakistan
  • 4 Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan
  • 5 School of Science and the Environment, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Corner Brook, NL, Canada
  • 6 Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, The University of Haripur, Haripur, Pakistan
  • 7 Department of Agronomy, The University of Haripur, Haripur, Pakistan
  • 8 Department of Botany, Hindu College Moradabad (Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University Bareilly), Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India
  • 9 Deptartment of Botany & Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
  • 10 Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
  • 11 Institute of Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, MNS University of Agriculture Multan, Multan, Pakistan
  • 12 Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Land Management, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
PLoS One, 2021;16(10):e0256984.
PMID: 34618822 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0256984

Abstract

Wheat is an important global staple food crop; however, its productivity is severely hampered by changing climate. Erratic rain patterns cause terminal drought stress, which affect reproductive development and crop yield. This study investigates the potential and zinc (Zn) and silicon (Si) to ameliorate terminal drought stress in wheat and associated mechanisms. Two different drought stress levels, i.e., control [80% water holding capacity (WHC) was maintained] and terminal drought stress (40% WHC maintained from BBCH growth stage 49 to 83) combined with five foliar-applied Zn-Si combinations (i.e., control, water spray, 4 mM Zn, 40 mM Si, 4 mM Zn + 40 mM Si applied 7 days after the initiation of drought stress). Results revealed that application of Zn and Si improved chlorophyll and relative water contents under well-watered conditions and terminal drought stress. Foliar application of Si and Zn had significant effect on antioxidant defense mechanism, proline and soluble protein, which showed that application of Si and Zn ameliorated the effects of terminal drought stress mainly by regulating antioxidant defense mechanism, and production of proline and soluble proteins. Combined application of Zn and Si resulted in the highest improvement in growth and antioxidant defense. The application of Zn and Si improved yield and related traits, both under well-watered conditions and terminal drought stress. The highest yield and related traits were recorded for combined application of Zn and Si. For grain and biological yield differences among sole and combined Zn-Si application were statistically non-significant (p>0.05). In conclusion, combined application of Zn-Si ameliorated the adverse effects of terminal drought stress by improving yield through regulating antioxidant mechanism and production of proline and soluble proteins. Results provide valuable insights for further cross talk between Zn-Si regulatory pathways to enhance grain biofortification.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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