article · Frontiers in Plant Science
Drought stress significantly restricts wheat growth and yield, particularly during critical phases such as grain filling. To identify cost-effective and eco-friendly solutions, researchers evaluated the effects of foliar sprays of the polyamine putrescine on two wheat cultivars, Fakhar-e-Bhakkar and Anaj-2017, grown under normal watering and terminal drought conditions. Putrescine was applied at concentrations of 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 parts per million alongside an untreated control. Terminal drought reduced physiological health and yield metrics in both cultivars, though Anaj-2017 suffered greater reductions. Applying putrescine up to 1.0 parts per million improved plant water status, leaf area, and overall grain production, whereas increasing the dose to 1.5 parts per million led to declines. Treating wheat with 1.0 parts per million putrescine enhanced relative water content, leaf area ratio, and grain yield, highlighting its protective value under water-limited conditions.
Drought is a severe constraint on cereal farming worldwide, threatening food security by reducing crop yields. Identifying simple, affordable treatments to protect plants during water shortages is essential for sustainable agriculture. This research demonstrates that targeted foliar sprays of putrescine can enhance plant resilience and grain output during terminal drought, offering a practical strategy to help sustain wheat productivity in drought-prone environments.
This work points to the use of putrescine as an exogenous foliar treatment to safeguard wheat yields against terminal drought. The findings are relevant to agricultural input manufacturers, agronomists, and wheat growers seeking low-cost, eco-friendly crop protection solutions. Because the research is applied and tested at an experimental trial level with clear dosage recommendations, further field-scale validation and formulation development would be required before widespread deployment by farmers.
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Drought stress is one of the major limitations to the growth and yield productivity of cereal crops. It severely impairs the early growing and grain -filling stages of wheat. Therefore, cost- effective and eco-friendly approaches for alleviating drought stress in cereal crops are in high demand. Polyamines, such as putrescine, have a significant effect on improving crop yield under drought- stress conditions. Therefore, the current study was executed with the aim of exploring the significance of putrescine in alleviating drought stress and improving yield- related traits in wheat. Two distinct wheat cultivars (Fakhar-e-Bhakkar and Anaj-2017) were treated with the foliar application of different concentrations (control, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 PPM) of putrescine (put) under two moisture conditions (well- watered and terminal drought stress). The results demonstrate that the imposition of terminal drought stress significantly reduces different physiological and yield- related traits of both wheat cultivars. The reduction of relative water content (RWC%), membrane stability index (MSI), leaf area, tillers per plant, biomass yield, number of spikelets per spike, 100-grain weight, grain yield per plant, and straw yield was greater in Anaj-2017 than in Fakhar-e-Bhakkar cultivar. The results further explain that the foliar application of increased concentrations of putrescine from 0.0 to 1.0 PPM gradually improved physiological and yield traits, whereas these traits declined with the application of putrescine at the highest dose (1.5 PPM). The exogenous application of 1.0 PPM putrescine improved the relative water content (19.76%), specific leaf area (41.47%), and leaf area ratio (35.84%) compared with the controlled treatment. A higher grain yield (28.0 g plant<sup>-1</sup>) and 100-grain weight (3.8 g) were obtained with the foliar application of 1.0 PPM putrescine compared with controlled treatments. The findings of this study confirm the protective role of putrescine against terminal drought stress. It is therefore recommended to use putrescine at a concentration of 1.0 PPM, which could help alleviate terminal drought stress and attain better wheat yield.
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DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1000877
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