Water-Super Absorbent Polymer Increases Biomass Production Under Drought in Safflower, Alfalfa, and Common Vetch

Abstract

Many countries located in arid and semiarid areas suffer from drought. Water-super absorbent polymers (SAP) are synthetic products used for water retention in soil. The goal of the study was to determine the water-superabsorbent polymer effect on safflower, alfalfa, and common vetch biomass production and physiological traits under drought. This research was carried out as a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design. Factors included water-super absorbent polymer amount and drought. Plant species included safflower, alfalfa, and common vetch. Water-superabsorbent polymer levels contained S1=0, S2=84, S3=168, and S4=336 kg per ha of soil, and drought levels included irrigation intervals of 6 (non-drought, I6) and 12 (drought, I12) days. Results showed that in safflower, I12 reduced seedling fresh weight and leaf chlorophyll content. In alfalfa, I12 reduced seedling fresh weight, seedling dry weight, and leaf chlorophyll content. In common vetch, I12 reduced leaf relative water content and leaf chlorophyll content. With the increase in the use of SAP, the leaf fresh weight, stem fresh weight, seedling fresh weight, leaf dry weight, stem dry weight, seedling dry weight, plant height, and leaf relative water content increased in all three plants: ‎safflower, alfalfa, and common vetch. ‎The results showed that with increasing the water-superabsorbent polymer rate, the seedling dry weight in safflower increased more than alfalfa and common vetch. Overall, application of SAP can increase the growth characteristics of the plant and can be used as one of the agronomic operations.

Keywords

• chlorophyll
• cool-season plants
• hydrogel
• irrigation interval
• water deficit stress