Mitigating the Toxic Effects of Salinity in Wheat Though Exogenous Application of Moringa Leaf Extract

Abstract

Allelo-chemical has been emerged as an important play to induce the abiotic stress tolerance. The experiment included three components: different levels of salinity stress (SS: control, 6 dS m-1, 12 dS m-1), seed priming with moringa leaf extract (MLE: 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5%, 3.0%), and saltwater-tolerant and salinity-sensitive wheat cultivars (Faisalabad-2008, Galaxy-2013). Results showed that salinity lowered photosynthetic pigments, photosynthesis, transpiration, internal carbon, and stomatal conductance, while causing poor and delayed germination, inconsistent seedling growth, and increased hydrogen peroxide accumulation. However, hydro-priming and MLE priming enhanced emergence dynamics, growth, biochemical and enzymatic characteristics, and physiological aspects. The cultivar Faisalabad-2008 (wheat) performed well, but at high salinity levels, the hormetic impact of moringa leaf extract was more obvious, enhancing the germination and growth of cultivar Galaxy-2013, which was salinity-sensitive. Wheat cultivars' germination and seedling growth improved most when primed with 2% MLE (Faisalabad-2008) and 2.5% MLE (Galaxy-2013). This demonstrated that moringa possesses growth-promoting compounds that efficiently mitigate toxic impacts of salinity.

Keywords

• salinity
• biochemical
• seed priming
• allelochemicals
• wheat