PJB-2018-995
Alleviation of adverse effects of salt stress on growth of maize (Zea mays L.) by sulfur supplementation
Alia Riffat and Muhammad Sajid Aqeel Ahmad
Abstract
Sulfur has considerable importance in ameliorating the adverse effects of salinity by modulating different physiological and biochemical pathways in the plants. A study was conducted to assess the response of maize in improving maize growth by exogenous application of sulfur under salt stress conditions. Seeds of maize varieties were sown in plastic pots containing loamy soil and treatments of sulfur (40, 80 mM) and salinity (25, 75 mM) were applied. For the determination of classical growth analysis, two harvests were taken at 7 and 21 days of treatment application while the growth parameters, photosynthetic pigments and biomolecule contents were determined by harvesting 52 days old plants. Results showed that salt stress reduced shoot and root length, fresh and dry weight, leaf area, relative growth rate, leaf weight fraction, unit leaf rate, specific leaf area, leaf area ratio, root shoot allometry, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, chlorophyll a/b ratio, total chlorophyll, starch and carbohydrate contents in both maize cultivars. However, sulfur application (40 mM) not only improved all studied growth parameters, photosynthetic components and biomolecules but also developed salt tolerance in salt sensitive maize cultivar (Pak Afgoi 2003). In crux, sulfur at 40 mM is very effective in improving maize growth under salt stress condition.
To Cite this article:
Riffat, A. and M.S.A. Ahmad. 2020. Alleviation of adverse effects of salt stress on growth of maize (Zea mays L.) by sulfur supplementation. Pak. J. Bot., 52(3): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2020-3(38)
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