Exogenous application of moringa leaf extract modulates the antioxidant enzyme system to improve wheat performance under
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Exogenous application of moringa leaf extract modulates the antioxidant enzyme system to improve wheat performance under saline conditions Azra Yasmeen • S. M. A. Basra • Muhammad Farooq Hafeez ur Rehman • Nazim Hussain • Habib ur Rehman Athar
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Received: 8 May 2012 / Accepted: 8 October 2012 / Published online: 23 October 2012 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2012
Abstract Amongst naturally occurring plant growth stimulants, moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) has attained enormous attention being rich in cytokinin, antioxidants and macro–micro nutrients in its leaves. In this study, potential of foliar applied moringa leaf extract (MLE; 30 times diluted), benzyl amino purine (BAP; 50 mg L-1) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2; 120 lM) at tillering, jointing, booting and heading growth stages was evaluated to induce salt resistance in wheat. Water spray treatment was taken as control. Wheat cv. Sehar-2006 was grown under normal (4 dS m-1), medium (8 dS m-1) and high (12 dS m-1) soil saline conditions. Application of these stimulants decreased the shoot Na? and Cl- contents, with simultaneous increase in shoot K? contents. Maximum shoot K? (48.62 %) contents were recorded with MLE application under high salinity. Activities of leaf antioxidants viz. superoxide dismutase, peroxidase and contents of total soluble phenolics were increased at medium
salinity level; whereas ascorbate contents were also improved by MLE application at high salinity level. However, maximum increase in leaf total soluble protein (35.9 %) was observed with BAP application at medium salinity. The shoot length, shoot and root dry weights were decreased with increase in level of salt stress. Grain weight (18.5 %) and kernel yield (18.5 %) were also improved by MLE application under saline and normal conditions than other stimulators used. In conclusion, foliar applied moringa leaf extract could ameliorate salinity-induced adverse effects by activation of antioxidant defense system and decrease in accumulation of Na? and Cl- into shoots under moderate saline conditions. Keywords Moringa oleifera Antioxidants Growth stimulants Salinity
Introduction A. Yasmeen (&) N. Hussain Department of Agronomy, University College of Agriculture, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan e-mail: [email protected] A. Yasmeen S. M. A. Basra H. Rehman Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan M. Farooq Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan M. Farooq The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia H. R. Athar Institute of Pure and Applied Biology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is staple food of the everburgeoning world population, which demands enhancement in its production (FAO 2009). In most of the cereals such as wheat (Afzal et al. 2011; Jafar et al. 2012), maize (Schubert et al. 2009) and barley (El-Tayeb 2005), excessive salts accumulation m
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