Deciphering selenium mediated physiological and biochemical mechanisms for improving drought tolerance in wheat
Fahim Nawaz
University of Oxford, UK
: J Plant Physiol Pathol
Abstract
Drought stress is a major environmental problem that severely restricts plant distribution and crop production worldwide. Water shortage, due to frequent droughts requires future farming and food systems to be better adapted to a range of environmental stresses. Selenium (Se) is considered an essential element for humans, animals and plants. The notion that Se helps to protect plants against abiotic stresses needs to be further explored by addressing the question of whether improved stress tolerance is directly due to regulation of various physiological and biochemical mechanisms by Se. The study was planned to evaluate the effects of exogenous Se supply in wheat under drought stress conditions. We report that Se mitigates drastic effects of water stress through maintenance of turgor, enhanced gas exchange characteristics, accumulation of osmoprotectants and increased activity of antioxidant machinery. The detection by ICP-OES showed that Se regulated processes facilitated the uptake of nutrients such as iron (Fe), potassium (K), zinc (Zn), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na) and calcium (Ca) that ultimately improved the yield and quality of wheat grains under water deficit conditions. Moreover, the experiments with different methods of exogenous Se supply viz., Se seed priming, fertigation and foliar spray demonstrated that seed priming is only effectual at early stages of crop growth, whereas Se foliar spray is the most effective method for Se translocation and accumulation within water stressed wheat plants. These data suggest the usefulness of Se in improving drought tolerance in crop plants.
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