Effect of salt dust caused by drying of Lake Urmia on three strategic crops of Azerbaijan

The dust is one of the natural hazards of arid and semi-arid regions, including Iran. When this problem coincides with the drying up of the largest salt lake in the Middle East (Lake Urmia), the occurrence of a salt dust storm will be inevitable, which will have profound effects on human communities, animals and plants. On the other hand, agriculture and the growth of crops are also strongly affected by dust deposition on the leaf surface. Therefore, in order to investigate the effect of dust on growth and some physiological characteristics of three important crops in Azerbaijan, namely wheat C3 monocot (Triticum aestivum L.), corn C4 monocot (Zea mays L.) and chickpea C3 dicot (Cicer arietinum L.), a completely random experiment designed with three replications. Treatments included two levels of dust (zero and 10 grams of dust per m2), Application of dust for 3 days had no significant effect on wheat growth. Maize responded to this environmental pollution by increasing growth and chickpeas by decreasing growth. The content of photosynthetic pigments decreased in chickpea leaves, increased in wheat and remained constant in corn. Dust increased the sugar content of corn and peas. Also, exposure to dust had little effect on the total protein content of wheat and corn, while the protein content of chickpeas showed a significant and clear decrease. Changes in the various parameters of the studied plant species can be considered as an adaptation to protect plants against dust stress. Corn and wheat seem to be more resilient, but chickpeas are stunted. Selecting a suitable crop species for cultivation in areas that receive a large amount of salty dust annually can be one of the important strategies to reduce the adverse effects of dust on the agricultural economy.