article · Frontiers in Plant Science
Soil salinity presents a significant threat to global agricultural output and food security by damaging crops and lowering yields. This study examines whether sugarcane press mud, an organic soil amendment, can counteract the harmful effects of salt stress on fine rice. Rice plants exposed to moderate and high salinity levels suffered reduced chlorophyll, leaf water, proteins, and free amino acids, alongside heightened oxidative stress and toxic sodium accumulation. Adding sugarcane press mud, especially at a nine percent concentration, largely reversed this damage. The treatment enhanced the activity of key antioxidant enzymes, boosted levels of beneficial compounds such as proline and potassium, and restored overall plant growth and grain yield. Applying sugarcane press mud represents an effective, organic approach to alleviating salinity stress and supporting rice productivity in salt-affected agricultural soils.
Rising soil salinity degrades arable land and impairs crop production worldwide, directly endangering food security. Identifying accessible, eco-friendly soil amendments helps farmers maintain cereal production in marginal or salt-damaged soils. Using sugarcane press mud, an agricultural by-product, offers a practical way to protect sensitive crops like fine rice from salt-induced oxidative damage without relying on chemical inputs.
The research indicates potential for converting sugarcane processing waste into an organic soil amendment product for rice growers managing saline farmland. The findings reflect applied, controlled-testing stage research. Moving towards commercial use would require field-scale validation, supply chain arrangements with sugar mills for raw press mud sourcing, and testing to determine cost-effective application methods for agricultural producers.
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Salinity stress is one of the major global problems that negatively affect crop growth and productivity. Therefore, ecofriendly and sustainable strategies for mitigating salinity stress in agricultural production and global food security are highly demandable. Sugarcane press mud (PM) is an excellent source of the organic amendment, and the role of PM in mitigating salinity stress is not well understood. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate how the PM mitigates salinity stress through the regulation of rice growth, yield, physiological properties, and antioxidant enzyme activities in fine rice grown under different salinity stress conditions. In this study, different levels of salinity (6 and 12 dS m<sup>-1</sup>) with or without different levels of 3, 6, and 9% of SPM, respectively were tested. Salinity stress significantly increased malondialdehyde (MDA, 38%), hydrogen peroxide (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>, 74.39%), Na<sup>+</sup> (61.5%), electrolyte leakage (40.32%), decreased chlorophyll content (32.64%), leaf water content (107.77%), total soluble protein (TSP, 72.28%), and free amino acids (FAA, 75.27%). However, these negative effects of salinity stress were reversed mainly in rice plants after PM application. PM application (9%) remained the most effective and significantly increased growth, yield, TSP, FAA, accumulation of soluble sugars, proline, K<sup>+</sup>, and activity of antioxidant enzymes, namely, ascorbate peroxidase (APX), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD). Thus, these findings suggest a PM-mediated eco-friendly strategy for salinity alleviation in agricultural soil could be useful for plant growth and productivity in saline soils.
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DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.840900
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