ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Enhanced Resilience to Salt Stress: An Integrated
Approach Addressing Physiochemical Attributes
of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)
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1
Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus,
22060, Abbottabad, Pakistan
2
Department of Physics, College of Science, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University,
P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia
3
Department of Biotechnology, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, 22060, Abbottabad, Pakistan
4
Department of Botany, Government Post Graduate College Mandain Abbottabad, 22060, Abbottabad, Pakistan
Submission date: 2024-02-14
Final revision date: 2024-03-13
Acceptance date: 2024-03-29
Online publication date: 2024-08-05
Corresponding author
Muhammad Shahzad
Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus,
22060, Abbottabad, Pakistan
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ABSTRACT
Salinity stress exerts a deleterious impact on crop growth, presenting a formidable challenge to
sustainable agriculture, because of the prevalence of salt-affected arable land globally. The present
investigation focused on mitigating the adverse effects of salinity on Triticum aestivum L. and employed
integrated physical, chemical, and biological amendments, which were denoted as treatments T1 to T8.
The findings unveiled higher pH, EC, and Na+ concentrations in the topsoil compared to the subsoil
within the selected saline field. In comparison to the control treatment (T1), the combined application of
gypsum, farmyard manure, and ridges (T8) demonstrated a significant enhancement in agronomic traits,
chlorophyll contents, and total protein in wheat. Notably, T8 exhibited the lowest Na+ concentration
and the highest levels of K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ compared to all other treatments. Furthermore, the
amalgamation of two reclamation approaches (T5, T6, and T7) surpassed single amendments (T2,
T3, and T4) in terms of both agronomic traits and ionic analysis. Treatment T8 displayed the lowest
phytochemical contents (i.e., antioxidant activity) in wheat, as indicated by total phenolic and flavonoid
content, ferric and molybdate ion reduction, DPPH, and hydroxyl scavengers. These parameters
exhibited a positive association in descending order, with 80.6%, 86.9%, 82.2%, 73%, 86%, and 84.5%
in T1 and 71.4%, 81.2%, 73.4%, 68.1%, 79.3%, and 78.5% in T8, respectively. The observed alterations
resulting from the combinations of amendments present promising targets, rendering them prospective
in enabling wheat plants to successfully acclimatize to saline soil conditions.