Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Associate Professor, Soil and Water Research Department, Fars Agricultural and Natural Resources
Abstract
The reports show the promising effect of using mycorrhizal fungi and glycine betaine to improve the drought tolerance of wheat (Triticum aestivium L.) and as a result, increase the yield quantity and quality in rainfed conditions. Therefore, the present experiment was carried out to investigate this effect as an on-farm experiment in the calcareous soils in the Abadeh region of Fars province in the 2021-22 growing season in the field conditions. The experimental treatments included 1) using inoculum of mycorrhizal fungi in the form of seeds before cultivation + foliar spraying of glycine betaine based on the integrated plant nutrition system and 2) the common management of the field as a control. The endomycorrhizal inoculum consisted of a mixture of three species of Funneliformis mosseae, Rhizophagus irregularis, and Glomus etunicatum at 2% (2 kg with surfactant with 100 kg of seeds) and glycine betaine foliar spraying at 5 mg L-1 at the first stem node and booting stages. The measured characteristics consisted of grain yield components (ear number per m-2 meter, grain number per ear, and thousand-grain weight), grain yield, biological yield, harvest index, and seed quality (concentration of N, P, K, Fe, Mn, Zn, and Cu). The results showed that using mycorrhizal fungi and glycine betaine in the research treatment significantly increased the yield by increasing the grain number per ear. Grain yield, biological yield, and harvest index in the research treatment were greater than the control treatment by about 60%, 39%, and 14%, respectively. Furthermore, the concentration of nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, manganese, and zinc in wheat grain increased significantly under the influence of research treatment; which indicated the improvement of seed quality in research treatment conditions. In general, it seems that the application of seed-used mycorrhizal fungi inoculant before planting along with glycine betaine foliar spraying can increase grain yield by 60% and improve crop quality (nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, manganese, and zinc content) in rainfed conditions, which leads to product stability and higher farmers` income.
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