Defensive Impact of Foliar Applied Potassium Nitrate on Growth Linked with Improved Physiological and Antioxidative Activities in Sunflower (<i>Helianthus annuus</i> L.) Hybrids Grown under Salinity Stress
Anisa Aslam,
Shahbaz Khan,
Danish Ibrar,
Sohail Irshad,
Ali Bakhsh,
Syed Tahir Raza Gardezi,
Madad Ali,
Zuhair Hasnain,
Abdulrahman Al-Hashimi,
Mehmood Ali Noor,
Marian Brestic,
Milan Skalicky,
Ali Tan Kee Zuan
Affiliations
Anisa Aslam
Department of Botany, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan
Shahbaz Khan
National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad 45500, Pakistan
Danish Ibrar
National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad 45500, Pakistan
Sohail Irshad
Department of Agronomy, MNS-University of Agriculture, Multan 64200, Pakistan
Ali Bakhsh
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan 32200, Pakistan
Syed Tahir Raza Gardezi
Department of Agronomy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 60800, Pakistan
Madad Ali
Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan
Zuhair Hasnain
Department of Agronomy, PMA-Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi 46000, Pakistan
Abdulrahman Al-Hashimi
Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 12 11451, Saudi Arabia
Mehmood Ali Noor
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Marian Brestic
Institut of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Slovak University of Agriculture, 949 76 Nitra, Slovakia
Milan Skalicky
Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, 165 00 Prague, Czech Republic
Ali Tan Kee Zuan
Department of Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University Putra Malaysia, UPM Serdang, Seri Kembangan 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
Salt stress is recognized to negatively influence the fundamental processes in plants regarding growth and yield. The sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is considered an important industrial crop because of the good quality of oil it produces that can be used for cooking purposes. The exogenous application of potassium (K) has been reported to enhance abiotic resistance and increase yield in crops. Here, we explored the impact of foliar-applied K at 500 ppm on the physiological and biochemical traits, antioxidant activities, and growth attributes of sunflower grown under salt stress (140 mM NaCl). The findings indicated that salinity stress adversely affected photosynthesis and various gas exchange characteristics. Foliar applied K markedly improved the stomatal conductance, transpiration rate, water use efficiency, CO2 assimilation rate, total soluble proteins, chlorophyll pigments, and upregulated antioxidant system, which are responsible for the healthy growth of sunflower hybrids grown under salinity stress. The shoot and root lengths, plant fresh and dry weights, and achene weight were significantly increased by K application. Overall, foliar applied K significantly improved all of the aforementioned attributes and can attenuate the deleterious influences of salinity stress in sunflower.
