Elsevier

Agricultural Water Management

Volume 245, 28 February 2021, 106520
Agricultural Water Management

Effects of oxygenated brackish water on germination and growth characteristics of wheat

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106520Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Oxygenated brackish water can improve salt stress caused by brackish water irrigation.

  • Dissolved oxygen of 20 mg l−1 in brackish water promote wheat germination and growth.

  • Germination rate was used as the quantitative evaluation index for seed germination.

  • Soluble sugar was used as the quantitative evaluation index for seedling growth.

Abstract

The long-term utilization of brackish water for irrigation in arid areas will decrease the oxygen content required for root growth, leading to the deterioration of soil environment in the root zone and the inhibition of plant growth. This study investigated the effects of oxygenated brackish water on the physiological characteristics of seed germination and seedling growth characteristics of spring wheat. The dissolved oxygen (DO) of 20 mg·l−1 in brackish water had a significant promotion effect on the seed germination and seedling growth. Specifically, at this DO concentration of 20 mg·l−1, the germination rate, germination potential, germination index, vigor index, and plant height on the 23rd day after sowing of wheat seeds were significantly higher than those of brackish water treatment (CK). Furthermore, compared with CK, the α-amylase activity in wheat seeds was significantly increased. Germination rate could be used as the quantitative evaluation index for wheat seed germination under the condition of oxygenated brackish water irrigation. According to the relationship between germination rate and DO concentration, the DO concentration with the maximum germination rate was 19 mg·l−1. During the wheat seedling growth period, compared with CK, the oxygenated brackish water with DO concentration of 20 mg·l−1 significantly increased the contents of soluble sugar and soluble protein in the leaves, whereas significantly decreased the proline content. Soluble sugar content was selected as the quantitative evaluation index for wheat seedling growth. The electrical conductivity and the activities of alkaline phosphatase and nitrate reductase in the root zone soil were significantly influenced. Thus, the oxygenation of brackish water with appropriate DO concentration could effectively improve the salt stress caused by brackish water irrigation. These results provide an effective method for the safe and efficient utilization of brackish water.

Introduction

The imbalance between supply and demand of freshwater resources has led to water shortage in most countries of the world (Gilbert, 2018). In particular, it is important to address the shortage of freshwater resources in order to maintain food production. New technical measures are being implemented to develop new water resources to alleviate the shortage of freshwater resources (Jiang, 2009). For example, the reasonable development of brackish water irrigation could effectively relieve the water pressure caused by the shortage of freshwater resources (Pérez-Pérez et al., 2016). There are about 27 countries in the world which irrigate with brackish water for agriculture, including Israel (Ghermandi and Minich, 2017), China (Chen et al., 2018a), the United States (Ozturk et al., 2018), Italy (Cantore, 2003), etc., accounting for about 29.7 % of the land area (Fig. 1). Short-term irrigation with brackish water could increase crop yields (Jin et al., 2016) and improve crop quality (Bustan et al., 2005). However, the long-term utilization of brackish water irrigation would lead to the accumulation of salt in the root zone of crops (Rengasamy, 2006), thereby reducing the crop yield and leading to secondary salinization of land (Cao et al., 2016). Studies have shown that high NaCl concentration absorbed by root caused a great reduction of leaf area, fresh and dry weight of leaves and roots, and nitrate reductase activity of leaves, thereby inhibiting the growth of sugar beet (Ghoulam et al., 2002). Furthermore, high NaCl concentration could inhibit the absorption of soil water by tomato roots (Romero-Aranda et al., 2001), and then reduce the accumulation of minerals in tomato leaves and fruit yields (Han et al., 2005). Therefore, it is very important to find more efficient brackish water treatment techniques to reduce the adverse effects of brackish water irrigation. The "oxygenated irrigation" technique has achieved remarkable benefits in agricultural irrigation in recent years. Mechanical oxygenation is considered to be a common method of oxygenation in the "oxygenated irrigation" technique. The devices employed for oxygenation mainly include oxygenation pump, venturi (Bhattarai et al., 2015), and micro-nanofoamer systems (Sang et al., 2018). Compared with other oxygenation methods, the micro-nanobubble oxygenation method could significantly increase the dissolved oxygen concentration in irrigation water and improve the efficiency of oxygen transfer, thereby enhancing the activity and physiological effects of irrigation water (Park et al., 2010). Moreover, the micro-nanobubble oxygenation device has the advantages of simplicity, low energy consumption, less investment, eco-friendliness, and high efficiency.

Studies have shown that oxygenated irrigation could improve the soil respiration (Bhattarai et al., 2004) and promote the activities of soil microorganism (Zhao et al., 2018). Furthermore, it accelerates the absorption and accumulation of nutrients by root and promotes plant growth (Bhattarai et al., 2008). Studies have shown that irrigation with oxygenated freshwater by a "Mazzei" venturi could increase the nitrogen accumulation in crops (Chen et al., 2018a, 2018b), the biomass of sweet corn (Lei et al., 2016), and the total fresh weight of red cabbages (Tunc and Sahin, 2016). In addition, Bhattarai et al. (2006) found that the oxygenated freshwater irrigation by a "Mazzei" venturi could decrease the water stress index and increase the tomato yield, water use efficiency, and chlorophyll content of leaves. In the application of oxygenated brackish water irrigation, studies have shown that the infiltration of appropriate oxygenated brackish water by micro-nanobubble rapid generation device increased the soil infiltration rate and accelerated the salt leaching (Sun et al., 2019). However, previous research into the "oxygenated irrigation" technique has mainly focused on the agricultural freshwater irrigation, whereas there has limited research into the use of oxygenated brackish water for irrigation, especially the study on the influence of brackish water irrigation with micro-nanobubble oxygenation method on crop seedling growth. Moreover, the crop seedling stage is very sensitive to salt stress (Chang et al., 2019). Therefore, based on the theory of oxygenated freshwater irrigation, our study combined the micro-nanobubble oxygenation method with brackish water irrigation was to explore the characteristics of wheat seed germination and seedling growth, which aimed to provide some theoretical basis for finding safer and more effective measures to improve the salt stress caused by brackish water irrigation on crop growth.

Section snippets

Study site and soil description

The experiment was performed using surface (0–15 cm) saline soil collected from Fuping, Shaanxi Province, China. Soil electrical conductivity (EC) was determined with an extraction of deionized water (water:soil = 5:1). The initial soil electrical conductivity was 700 μs· cm·−1. According to Kaczynski's soil grading standard and laser particle size analysis (Mastersizer 2000, Malvern Instruments Co., Ltd., UK), the sampled soil was a medium loam soil with particle size distribution: 64.76 %

Germination and physiological characteristics of wheat seeds

When the DO concentration in the brackish water increased from 8 to 10 mg·l−1 (CK) to 30 mg·1−1, the germination indices (germination rate, germination potential, germination index, root fresh weight, and vitality index) and the α-amylase activity almost increased initially and then decreased, whereas the malondialdehyde content almost exhibited the opposite trend.

Compared with CK, the germination index and vitality index of wheat seeds were increased significantly by 30 % and 49 % under the

Effects of oxygenated brackish water on wheat seed germination

Germination parameters (i.e., germination rate, germination potential, germination index, fresh root weight, and vitality index) and α-amylase activity can reflect the germination capacity of seeds to a certain extent (Wen et al., 2018). In the present study, the germination parameters and α-amylase activity of DO20 treatment were significantly higher than those of CK, indicating that the DO20 treatment could promote seed germination. In addition, germination parameters can be used as the salt

Conclusion

The dissolved oxygen of 20 mg·l−1 in brackish water could significantly promote the seed germination and growth of wheat seedlings. This was mainly through regulating the soil moisture, fertility and gas conditions, enhancing the osmotic regulation mechanism in wheat, and thus improving the effect of salt stress on crop growth caused by brackish water irrigation. The germination rate and soluble sugar content were used as the quantitative evaluation index for seed germination and seeding

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

The present research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41830754, 51679190 and 41907010), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016A03008) and the Xinjiang Water Resources Department Program of China (2020.D-001).

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