Abscisic acid improves drought resilience, growth, physio‑biochemical and quality attributes in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) at critical growth stages

مقال فى مجلة

Wheat is an important staple crop not only in Pakistan but all over the globe. Although the area
dedicated to wheat cultivation expands annually, the quantity of wheat harvested is declining due
to various biotic and abiotic factors. Global wheat production and output have suffered as a result of
the drought, which is largely driven by a lack of water and environmental factors. Organic fertilizers
have been shown to reduce the severity of drought. The current research was conducted in semiarid
climates to mitigate the negative effects of drought on wheat during its critical tillering (DTS),
flowering (DFS), and grain filling (DGFS) stages through the application of three different abscisic
acid treatments: ABA0
(0 mgL−
1) control, ABA1
(100 mgL−
1) and ABA2
(200 mgL−
1). Wheat growth and
yield characteristics were severely harmed by drought stress across all critical development stages,
with the DGFS stage being particularly vulnerable and leading to a considerable loss in yield. Plant
height was increased by 24.25%, the number of fertile tillers by 25.66%, spike length by 17.24%, the
number of spikelets per spike by 16.68%, grain count per spike by 11.98%, thousand-grain weight by
14.34%, grain yield by 26.93% and biological yield by 14.55% when abscisic acid (ABA) was applied
instead of the control treatment. Moreover, ABA2
increased the more physiological indices (water use
efficiency (36.12%), stomatal conductance (44.23%), chlorophyll a (24.5%), chlorophyll b (29.8%),
transpiration rate (23.03%), photosynthetic rate (24.84%), electrolyte leakage (− 38.76%) hydrogen
peroxide (− 18.09%) superoxide dismutase (15.3%), catalase (20.8%), peroxidase (− 18.09%), and
malondialdehyde (− 13.7%)) of drought-stressed wheat as compared to other treatments. In the case
of N, P, and K contents in grain were maximally improved with the application of ABA2.
Through the
use of principal component analysis, we were able to correlate our results across scales and provide an
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