Investigating the Dust Deposition on Some Physiological Characteristics of Soybean

Abstract

Dust from cement factories and sand crushers can cause stress by depositing on the leaves. Accordingly, in areas that are often exposed to such problems, it is important to investigate its effect on plant growth and physiology. This experiment was simulated to investigate dust deposition on soybean leaves and their physiological characteristics. The experiment was carried out on soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr. Var. Hobbit] via factorial in the form of randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications in 2016 and 2017. The factors included the type of dust (cement, clay, and sand), each of them 20 g m-2 at different stages of soybean growth (V3 (third-node), R1 (beginning bloom), R3 (beginning pod) and R5 (beginning seed)). Plant traits measurements included chlorophyll content, stomatal conductance, catalase activity, soluble sugar, chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm), and seed yield. The results proved that dust deposition had significant effects on reducing stomatal conductance, photosynthetic pigments, Fv/Fm, and soybean yield. Finally, the use of cement dust from stage V3 led to a significant reduction in some traits. In this treatment, the amount of damage was higher with the increase of dust deposition period.

Keywords

• cement dust
• fv/fm
• photosynthetic pigments
• sand dust
• soluble sugar