Evaluation of the Efficacy of Mycorrhizal and Potassium-Humate on Some Physiological and Agronomical Characters of Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum) under Saline Soil Conditions
Nevein L. Eryan
Grop Physiological Research Department, Field Crops Research Institute, ARC, Egypt.
M. S. Genedy *
Wheat Research Department, Field Crops Research Institute, ARC, Egypt.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Salinity stress is an ultimate challenge restricting wheat production worldwide. A field experiment was carried out during 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 winter growing seasons at Sakha Agricultural Research Station, under salt-affected soil (El-Hamrawy Farm) Kafer El-Sheikh, Governorate, Egypt, to evaluate four bread wheat cultivars, i.e. Misr1, Shandaweel1, Sakha95 and Gemmeiza11 under different biological-fertilization; (control, a mycorrhizal fungi and potassium-humate) using a split plot arrangement in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The main-plots were assigned to the four wheat cultivars and the biological-fertilizer treatments were assigned to the sub-plots. Results indicated that Misr1 cultivar gave the highest values for chlorophyll a (mg/l), chlorophyll b (mg/l), total chlorophyll (mg/l), proline content (mg/g fresh weight), carbohydrate content (%), protein content (%), relative water content (%), number of spikes/m2 and grain yield (ardab/fed), while Sakha95 cultivar recorded the highest values for flag leaf area (cm2), plant height at harvest (cm) and 1000-grain weight. Shandaweel1 recorded the highest values for spike length (cm), number of spikelets/spike and number of grains/spike. Gemmeiza11 cultivar recorded the lowest values for all wheat physiological and agronomical characters comparing with the other wheat cultivars. However, the results of biological-fertilization with (mycorrhizal-fungi, potassium-humate and control) were significantly influenced all the physiological and agronomical characters under this study. The highest values of the most characters were obtained with potassium-humate treatment, which led to increase grain yield/fed, compared to the lowest values which were occurred in control treatment (without biological fertilization).
Keywords: Mycorrhizal-fungi, potassium-humate, physiological, agronomical, wheat and saline