Seed Priming Using Snp (Sodium Nitroprusside) in Combination With Other Pgrs to Improve Drought Traits in Wheat (Triticum Aestivum L.)

Abstract

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a major staple food crop belongs to family Poaceae. The germination, seedling vigor, crop establishment and yield of wheat important crops are negatively affected by many abiotic stresses including drought stress. In the present study priming by SNP and its combination with Salicylic acid was used to induce drought tolerance in ten high yielding wheat genotypes Viz. PBW71, C-306, UP-2784, DBW187, DBW90, WB02, DBW222, DBW17, DBW88 and PBW226. For seed priming, 100 seeds of each genotype were treated with three SNP concentrations (0.1mM 0.2mM, and 0.3mM) and in combination with SA (250μM) to observe their effect on morpho-physiological and biochemical parameters under irrigated and drought conditions. The highest germination percentage (93.33%) was recorded in PBW-71 genotype treated with 0.1mM SNP and 250μM SA. Similarly, the highest number of tillers (9) was observed in PBW71 genotype treated with 0.1mM SNP under irrigated condition. The highest plant height (71.13cm) was recorded in DBW222 genotype treated with 0.2mM SNP in combination with 250μM SA under drought condition. Maximum number of days (126.67) required to get mature was observed in DBW88 genotype treated with 250μM in drought condition. The maximum number of grains per spike (40.67) was observed in PBW226 genotype treated with 0.2mM SNP in combination with 250μM SA in irrigated condition. The maximum test weight (40.87grams) was recorded in DBW222 genotype treated with 0.1mM SNP in combination with 250μM SA under irrigated condition. Further, highest amount of chlorophyll content (48.3) was observed in PBW71 genotype treated with 0.1mM SNP in combination with 250μM SA in irrigated condition. Moreover, highest activity of peroxidase (29.88 u/mg protein) and catalase (13.56 u/mg protein) was recorded in C-306 and PBW71 respectively under drought condition while, the proline content was high (2 to 2.5 times) in drought treated plants as compare to irrigated plants. Furthermore, the genetic diversity was assessed using five ISSR primers among ten selected wheat genotypes, which showed good polymorphism with scorable and reproducible bands.