Differential response of wheat to bioactivated ZnO and commercial ZnSO4 coated urea in normal and saline soil
2016
Noor-ul-Ain
Among atrocious environmental factors that limit plants productivity, salinity is very common in Pakistan and the salt affected soils are increasing gradually. Zinc application can noticeably lessen the depressing effects of salinity on plant growth as it is involved in photosynthesis and chlorophyll formation and provide resistance toward abiotic and biotic stresses and protects plant against oxidative damage. Role of bio-activated ZnO-coated urea in comparison with commercial ZnSO4-coated urea in ameliorating salt stress in wheat was investigated in soil filled earthen pots at wire house of Institute of Soil and Environmental Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad under completely randomized design factorial. Normal and saline (100mM) soils were used as two levels of salinity. There were four treatments along with three replicates comprising Control, bio-activated ZnO-coated urea, commercial ZnSO4-coated urea and Zn solublizing bacterial strain (AZ6). All the agronomic, chemical and physiological parameters of wheat plants were recorded. Statistical software was used for analyzing the results. It was concluded that though the treatment having ZnSO4-coated urea performed better in normal as well as saline soil but other treatment having bio-activated ZnO-coated urea also performed better and its results were non-significant to the results of ZnSO4-coated urea and with the use of Zn salinity stress was ameliorated too. Hence use of ZnO-coated urea is a good choice as it is cost effective and has higher content of zinc and also environment friendly.
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