Journal Article

Effect of salinity stress and surfactant treatment with zinc and boron on morpho-physiological and biochemical indices of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum)

Ali, Baber, Bibi, Safura, Abidin, Zain Ul, Iqbal, Rashid, Javed, Talha, Mehmood, Shahid, Babar, Babar Hussain, Mahmood, Athar, Javaid, Muhammad Mansoor, Al-Sadoon, Mohammad Khalid, Khan, Atika, Yasin, Muhammad, Malik, Tabarak

2024

Overview

Micronutrient application has a crucial role in mitigating salinity stress in crop plants. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of zinc (Zn) and boron (B) as foliar applications on fenugreek growth and physiology under salt stress (0 and 120 mM). After 35 days of salt treatments, three levels of zinc (0, 50, and 100 ppm) and two levels of boron (0 and 2 ppm) were applied as a foliar application. Salinity significantly reduced root length (72.7%) and shoot length (33.9%), plant height (36%), leaf area (37%), root fresh weight (48%) and shoot fresh weight (75%), root dry weight (80%) and shoot dry weight (67%), photosynthetic pigments (78%), number of branches (50%), and seeds per pod (56%). Fenugreek’s growth and physiology were improved by foliar spray of zinc and boron, which increased the length of the shoot (6%) and root length (2%), fresh root weight (18%), and dry root weight (8%), and chlorophyll a (1%), chlorophyll b (25%), total soluble protein content (3%), shoot calcium (9%) and potassium (5%) contents by significantly decreasing sodium ion (11%) content. Moreover, 100 ppm of Zn and 2 ppm of B enhanced the growth and physiology of fenugreek by reducing the effect of salt stress. Overall, boron and zinc foliar spray is suggested for improvement in fenugreek growth under salinity stress.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Abiotic stress / Agricultural production / Agricultural research / Agriculture / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Boron / Boron (Nutrient) / Boron - metabolism / Boron - pharmacology / calcium / Chlorophyll / Chlorophyll a / Chlorophyll A - metabolism / Dry weight / Environmental aspects / Fenugreek / Foliar applications / foliar spraying / Leaf area / Leaves / Life Sciences / Metabolism / Metabolites / Nutrients / Oxidative stress / Photosynthesis / Photosynthetic pigments / Physiological aspects / Physiology / plant height / Plant Sciences / potassium / Production processes / protein content / Proteins / Salinity / Salinity effects / Salt / Salt Stress / Salt stress (Botany) / Salts / Seeds / Shoots / Sodium / Surface active agents / Surface-Active Agents - metabolism / Surface-Active Agents - pharmacology / Surfactants / Total soluble proteins / Tree Biology / Trigonella - metabolism / Trigonella foenum-graecum / Weight / Zinc / Zinc - metabolism / Zinc - pharmacology / Zinc in the body