Beneficial Effects of Biochar and Chitosan on Antioxidative Capacity, Osmolytes Accumulation, and Anatomical Characters of Water-Stressed Barley Plants
Yaser Hafez,
Kotb Attia,
Salman Alamery,
Abdelhalim Ghazy,
Abdullah Al-Doss,
Eid Ibrahim,
Emad Rashwan,
Lamiaa El-Maghraby,
Ahmed Awad,
Khaled Abdelaal
Affiliations
Yaser Hafez
EPCRS Excellence Center, Plant Pathology and Biotechnology Laboratory, Agricultural Botany Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr Elsheikh 33516, Egypt
Kotb Attia
Center of Excellence in Biotechnology Research, King Saud University, Riyadh POX 2455-11451, Saudi Arabia
Salman Alamery
Center of Excellence in Biotechnology Research, King Saud University, Riyadh POX 2455-11451, Saudi Arabia
Abdelhalim Ghazy
Plant Production Department, Food Science and Agricultural College, King Saud University, Riyadh POX 2455-11451, Saudi Arabia
Abdullah Al-Doss
Plant Production Department, Food Science and Agricultural College, King Saud University, Riyadh POX 2455-11451, Saudi Arabia
Eid Ibrahim
Plant Production Department, Food Science and Agricultural College, King Saud University, Riyadh POX 2455-11451, Saudi Arabia
Emad Rashwan
Agronomy Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Tanta 31111, Egypt
The impact of biochar and chitosan on barley plants under drought stress conditions was investigated during two field experiments. Our results confirmed that drought stress negatively affected morphological and physiological growth traits of barley plants such as plant height, number of leaves, chlorophyll concentrations, and relative water content. However, electrolyte leakage (EL%), lipid peroxidation (MDA), soluble sugars, sucrose and starch contents significantly increased as a response to drought stress. Additionally, 1000 grain weight, grains yield ha−1 and biological yield significantly decreased in stressed barley plants, also anatomical traits such as upper epidermis, lower epidermis, lamina, and mesophyll tissue thickness as well as vascular bundle diameter of flag leaves significantly decreased compared with control. The use of biochar and chitosan led to significant increases in plant height, number of leaves, and chlorophyll concentrations as well as relative water content; nevertheless these treatments led to significant decreases in electrolyte leakage (EL%) and lipid peroxidation (MDA) in the stressed plants. Moreover, anatomical and yield characters of stressed barley plants were improved with application of biochar and chitosan. The results proved the significance of biochar and chitosan in alleviating the damaging impacts of drought on barley plants.
