ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Optimizing Sunflower Growth,
Nutrient Assimilation, and Biochemical
Attributes under Salinity Stress Using
a Combination of Sulfur-Treated Biochar
and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi
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1
Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agricultural Science’s and Technology Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan
2
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agricultural Science’s and Technology Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan
3
MOA Key Laboratory of Crop Ecophysiology and Farming System in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River,
College of Plant Science & Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China
4
Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Maribor, Slovenia
5
National Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Biology, Ministry of Education, Wuhan, Hubei 430070, China
6
Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia
7
Department of Botany, Hindu College Moradabad
(Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Rohilkhand University Bareilly)-Uttar Pradesh, 244001, India
8
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, and Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and
Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy
These authors had equal contribution to this work
Submission date: 2024-03-23
Final revision date: 2024-05-14
Acceptance date: 2024-06-05
Online publication date: 2024-09-04
Corresponding author
Muhammad Ikram
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agricultural Science’s and Technology Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan, Pakistan
Ismail Khan
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, and Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and
Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy
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ABSTRACT
Soil salinity is a major issue that lowers the crop yield. Biochar is an organic amendment to the soil
that mitigates the drastic effects of salinity. However, high pH is a problem in arid and semi-arid regions
due to the use of biochar. Hence, the sulfur-treated biochar covers this problem to some extent. Furthermore,
the use of arbuscular mycorrhizae also helps to cope with stressful environments. A limited
study is done for the combined application of these strategies. To investigate this, the sulfur-treated
biochar and AMF are evaluated for their individual and combined effects on the growth of sunflower
plants under saline conditions. The study results revealed that the individual effect proved better,
but the combination of BS and AMF showed a remarkable increase in the growth of sunflower plants
in a saline environment. The integrated use of AMF and BS increases the plant agronomic attribute, NPK, and improves gas exchange parameters. The Electrolyte leakage was minimal where integrated
application of AMF and BS was applied. The antioxidants that combat the ROS were found to be lower
at combined application. This study opens a wide avenue for research exploration for the mitigation
of salinity stress in the sunflower crop.