EFFECT OF MANNITOL ON MORPHOPHYSIOLOGY AND YIELD OF WHEAT PLANT UNDER SALINITY

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in the net house of the Department of Agricultural Botany, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207, during the period of November, 2018-March, 2019 to find out the effect of mannitol on morphophysiology and yield of wheat plant under salinity. BARI Gom-25 was used as a plant material. The experiment consists of nine treatments viz. T 1 = Control, T 2 = Mannitol 15 mM (M 1 ), T 3 = Mannitol 30 mM (M 2 ), T 4 = 4 dS m -1 NaCl (S 1 ), T 5 = 4 dS m NaCl + Mannitol 15 mM (S 1 +M 1 ), T 6 = 4 dS m -1 NaCl + Mannitol 30 mM (S 1 = 8 dS m -1 NaCl (S 2 ), T 8 = 8 dS m NaCl + Mannitol 30 mM (S 2 -1 NaCl + Mannitol 15 mM (S 2 +M 2 +M 1 +M 2 ) and T 9 ). The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Data on different growth, physiological and yield contributing parameters of BARI Gom-25 were recorded. Wheat plants exposed to maximum levels of salinity (8 dS m -1 NaCl) resulted in the lowest value of the studied parameters such as plant height (cm), tillers number plant 1 1 , leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD reading), filled grains spike -1 -1 ), T 7 = 8 dS m , unfilled grains spike , 1000-seed weight (g), dry weight of plant at harvest (g) and grain yield plant (g). Plants in non-saline and control treatments showed the highest value of the studied parameters. Mannitol was applied in both saline and non-saline treated plants. Application of mannitol to salinized wheat plants resulted in the significant improvement of the studied parameters. But the effect of mannitol to non-salinized wheat plants was similar to the effect of control plants. Mannitol application @ 30mM (M 2 ) performed best over 15mM (M 1 ) for mitigating the damaging effect of salinity on different growth, physiological, yield contributing and yield parameters of wheat. -1 -1 - -