Herbal
Roya Karamian; Mohammad Saeid Pazirandeh
Abstract
Introduction: Water deficit is one of the most important abiotic stresses that reduces crop productivity. Biotic and abiotic elicitors such as nanoparticles and mycorrhyzal fungi are the useful sterategies to reduce the harmful effects of drough stress in crops. Methods: In order to investigate the effects ...
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Introduction: Water deficit is one of the most important abiotic stresses that reduces crop productivity. Biotic and abiotic elicitors such as nanoparticles and mycorrhyzal fungi are the useful sterategies to reduce the harmful effects of drough stress in crops. Methods: In order to investigate the effects of selenium nanoparticles and the mycorrhizal fungus Piriformospora indica on drought tolerance in two selected barley genotypes (Yousef as the tolerant genotype and Morocco as the sensitive genotype) during the vegetative stage, a greenhouse experiment was conducted in a factorial design within completely randomized blocks with three replicates per sample. The emphasis was on evaluating several growth-related traits and antioxidant indices. Experimental treatments were designed with three irrigation levels (70%, 30%, and 10% of field capacity), three levels of selenium nanoparticles (0, 3, and 6 mg/l), and two levels of fungal treatment (inoculated and non-inoculated). Results: Drought stress led to a reduction in growth-related traits in both genotypes, especially in the sensitive genotype, and a significant increase in hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde contents. Selenium nanoparticles especialy at 6 mg/l concentration and Piriformospora indica inoculation caused increase in growth indices and antioxidant enzmes activities, but decrease in hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde contents.Conclusion: Drought stress increased the content of malondialdehyde as a product of peroxidation of membrane lipids, especially in the sensitive genotype, by increasing oxygen free radicals. The application of selenium nanoparticles, and the inoculation of Piriformospora indica resulted in improved growth and antioxidant traits in the studied genotypes under drought stress.
