Journal of Plant Nutrition

ISSN: 0190-4167 (Print) 1532-4087 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/lpla20

Nutrient Uptake, Water Relations, and Yield

Performance lf Different Wheat Cultivars (Triticum
aestivum L.) under Salinity Stress
Rai Altaf Hussain, Rashid Ahmad, Ejaz Ahmad Waraich & Fahim Nawaz
To cite this article: Rai Altaf Hussain, Rashid Ahmad, Ejaz Ahmad Waraich & Fahim Nawaz
(2015) Nutrient Uptake, Water Relations, and Yield Performance lf Different Wheat Cultivars
(Triticum aestivum L.) under Salinity Stress, Journal of Plant Nutrition, 38:13, 2139-2149, DOI:
10.1080/01904167.2014.958169
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01904167.2014.958169

Accepted author version posted online: 10

Sep 2014.

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Date: 23 November 2015, At: 19:39

Journal of Plant Nutrition, 38:21392149, 2015

C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Copyright 
ISSN: 0190-4167 print / 1532-4087 online
DOI: 10.1080/01904167.2014.958169

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NUTRIENT UPTAKE, WATER RELATIONS, AND YIELD

PERFORMANCE OF DIFFERENT WHEAT CULTIVARS (TRITICUM
AESTIVUM L.) UNDER SALINITY STRESS

Rai Altaf Hussain, Rashid Ahmad, Ejaz Ahmad Waraich, and Fahim Nawaz
Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan

A pot experiment was conducted in the wire house of Department of Crop Physiology, University
of Agriculture, Faisalabad to evaluate the effect of salinity stress on water relations, nutrient uptake
and yield of six local spring wheat cultivars. The seeds were sown in plastic pots (25 15 cm) and
experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design in factorial arrangement with three
repeats. De-ionized water was used as control treatment while salinity stress was imposed by irrigating plants with sodium chloride (NaCl) solution of 10 mM at tillering, stem elongation, anthesis,
and grain development stages. Results of the study demonstrated that salinity stress decreased water
potential by 32%, osmotic potential by 12%, and relative water contents by 20% as compared to
control treatment. The nitrogen (N) uptake was decreased by 36% under salinity stress, while phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) uptake were decreased by 56% and 42%, respectively. The yield
of wheat plants was also significantly reduced under salinity stress. It reduced grain yield by 25%
and grain weight by 7%. The response of different cultivars was also different to salinity stress as
cultivars Lasani-08 and FSD-08 were found to be more tolerant as compared to other cultivars.
Keywords:

water relations, nutrient uptake. salinity stress, wheat

INTRODUCTION
Soil salinity is the major abiotic stress that has drastically limited crop
productivity in Pakistan. It has caused millions of useable land in the country
unsuitable for cultivation mostly due to saline water irrigation. It is estimated
that the salt affected area in the country is up to 6.67 million hectares (Khan
et al., 1999), of which 60% is saline sodic. Salinity seriously affects nearly half
of the irrigated surface (Flagella et al., 2002a). It affects one million hectares
of land every year (Munns et al., 1999). Soil salinity, thus, has emerged as a
serious concern and challenge for sustainable agriculture.
Received 26 December 2012; accepted 6 February 2014.
Address correspondence to Ejaz Ahmad Waraich, Department of Crop Physiology, University of
Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan. E-mail: uaf ewarraich@yahoo.com

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R. A. Hussain et al.

Salinity affects plant growth by disturbing metabolic processes (Taneja,

1988), resulting in stunted plant growth, poor productivity (Woong and
Choongsoo, 1998) and disturbing the concentrations of biomolecules. Free
proline accumulates in the tissues of the plants grown under saline (Heuer,
1994) due to osmotic adjustment (Heuer and Nadler, 1998). Plants respond
to salinity stress through modification of different morphological, physiological and biochemical processes and anatomical changes (Tester and
Davenport, 2003).
Initial growth in saline environment is induced by the reduction in water
potential of rooting medium due to higher salt concentration. A secondary
effect of high concentration of sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl) in the
root medium is the suppression of uptake of essential nutrients such as
potassium (K +), calcium (Ca+2), nitrate (NO3 ), etc. (Munns, 2002). Higher
sodium (Na) concentration decreased the concentration of phosphorus (P),
potassium (K), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) in plant parts. (Esechie
et al., 2002).
Wheat has been ranked as moderately salt-tolerant crop (Qureshi and
Barrett-Lennard, 1998), but increase in salinity reduces seed germination
and growth in wheat (Younis and Hatata, 2005). The differences among
wheat genotypes to salinity stress may be due to xylem loading and the
capacity to extract and sequester sodium. (Davenport et al., 2005).
The present study was, therefore, carried out with the hypothesis that
salinity stress reduces water relations, nutrient uptake and yield of wheat
plants.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The experiment was carried out at the wire house of department of
Crop Physiology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad on sandy loam soil
containing 0.57% organic matter, 0.05% total nitrogen (N), 102 mg kg1
phosphorus pentoxide (P2 O5 ), and 7.92 mg kg1 potassium oxide (K2 O)
(Table 1). All the soil analyses were performed by following the method given
in the Handbook No. 60 (U. S. Salinity Laboratory Staff, 1954). However,
available P and soil texture were determined by the methods described by
Watanabe and Olsen (1965) and Moodie et al. (1959), respectively.
Six local spring wheat cultivars Miraj-908, Lasani-08, Chakwal-50,
SH-2006, Sehar, and FSD-08 were used as experimental crops. Ten seeds
were sown in each pot (25 15 cm) of 5 kg soil capacity but only five
plants were grown till maturity for data collection. Salinity stress of 100mM
was developed by dissolving 5.38 g of sodium chloride (NaCl) in 1000ml of
distilled water and the plants were irrigated with saline water at tillering,
stem elongation, anthesis, and grain development stages. Deionized water
was used as control treatment. The experiment was laid out in a randomized

Nutrient Uptake under Salinity Stress

2141

TABLE 1 Soil characteristics of the experimental site

Characteristic

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pH
Sand
Silt
Clay
Electrical conductivity
Organic matter
Available P
Available K
Total N
Texture

Unit

Concentration

%
%
%
dS m1
%
mg kg1
mg kg1
%

7.69
55.05
23.45
17.84
1.61
0.57
7.92
102
0.05
Sandy clay loam

complete block design in factorial arrangement. Every treatment was repeated three times for a total of 36 pots. All other fertilization and cultural
practices were standard and uniform. Scholander type pressure chamber
was used to determine leaf water potential by randomly selecting three flag
leaves (fully expanded) from each treatment plot. The same leaves were
frozen in a freezer below -20 C for seven days, thawed, and were crushed
into a 1.5 mL tube with the help of a blue pestle to extract cell sap which
was used for the determination of osmotic potential using an osmometer
(Wescor 5500, Wescor Inc., Logan, UT, USA). For relative water content
(RWC), each sample containing a flag leaf was taken from each pot. Fresh
weights of each sample were taken. Leaves were dipped in test tubes containing water for 1518 hours. Then they were wiped with tissue paper and
turgid weight was taken. The samples were dried at 72 C then dry weight of
each sample was taken. Relative water content (RWC) was calculated by the
following formula (Karrou and Maranville, 1995):
RWC =

Fresh weight-Dry weight

100
Turgid weight-Dry weight

The plant samples were collected at tillering, stem elongation, anthesis

and grain filling stages for the determination of mineral elements (NPK).
Kjeldhal apparatus was used for the determination of nitrogen according
to the method of Wolf (1982). Nitrogen contents calculated in percentage
were converted to mg g1 of dry weight.
Spectrophotometer (Hitachi-220, Hitachi Ltd, Tokyo, Japan) at 620 nm
was used for the analysis of phosphorous by preparing Barton reagents as
described by Ashraf et al. (1992). The values of phosphorus were calculated
by using standard curve and multiplying the graph readings to dilution factor
to reveal phosphorus values in ppm, which were then converted to mg g1
of dry weight. Flame photometer (PFP-7, Jenway, Dunmow, UK) was used
for the analysis of potassium (K) by preparing a graded series of standards

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R. A. Hussain et al.

TABLE 2 Effect of salinity stress on water relations of six spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars

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Treatments

Water potential
(MPa)

Control
Salinity

0.84 a
1.24 b

Sehar 2006
FSD-08
Lasani-08
Chakwal-50
Miraj-908
SH-2002

1.04 bc
1.00 a
1.03 ab
1.03 ab
1.06 abc
1.07 c

Osmotic potential
(MPa)
Stress levels
1.41 a
1.61 b
Cultivars
1.50 ab
1.48 a
1.50 ab
1.50 ab
1.53 b
1.52 ab

Turgor potential
(MPa)

Relative water
content (%)

0.57 a
0.37 b

79.44 a
64.11b

0.45 a
0.48 a
0.46 a
0.46 a
0.47 a
0.45 a

70.83 bc
72.17 abc
73.17 ab
71.00 bc
68.83 c
73.67 a

Each value represents the mean of three repeats in column, and the different letters in the same
column indicate significant difference of values from each other (P < 0.05).

(ranging from 10 to 100 ppm) and drawing standard curves. The values of
K in mg g1 were compared for standard curve and total quantities were
computed.
Nutrient uptake was determined by the following formula:
Nutrient uptake = Nutrient concentration(mgg1 ) Shoot dry weight(g)
Each plant was threshed manually for the calculation of grain yield.
Fishers analysis of variance technique was used for statistical analysis and
significant treatment means were separated using least significant difference
test (LSD) at 5% probability level (Steel et al., 1997).
RESULTS
The data pertaining to leaf water potential showed the highly significant
difference between varieties and among different salinity stress levels. Water
potential was decreased by 32% with the application of saline water to the
crop plants. It was greatest (0.84 MPa) in crop plants given normal supply
of water (control), while water potential was minimum (1.24 MPa) in crop
plants irrigated with saline water. Wheat cultivars also differed significantly
for this variable. The highest water potential (1.00 MPa) was recorded in
SH-2002, while minimum water potential (1.07 MPa) was recorded in
FSD-08 (Table 2).
Application of saline irrigation water decreased osmotic potential by
12%. It was greatest (1.41 MPa) in crop plants grown under a normal
supply of water (control), while osmotic potential was least (1.61 MPa)
in crop plants irrigated with saline water three weeks after the emergence.
Wheat cultivars also differed significantly for this variable (Table 2). The

2143

Nutrient Uptake under Salinity Stress

160

140
120
100
Nitrogen
80
Uptake (mg)

De-ionized water
100mM

60
40

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20
0
Sehar 2006 FSD-08 Lasani-08 Chakwal-50 Miraj-908 SH-2002
Cultivars

FIGURE 1 Nitrogen uptake (mg) as influenced by salinity stress in six spring wheat (Triticum aestivum
L.) cultivars.

highest osmotic potential value (1.48 MPa) was recorded in Miraj-908,

while FSD-08 had the minimum osmotic potential value of 1.53 MPa.
Salinity stress caused significant decrease in turgor potential (Table 2).
The maximum turgor potential value (0.57 MPa) was obtained in crop plants
given normal supply of water (control) while minimum turgor potential
value (0.37 MPa) was obtained in crop plants grown under saline conditions
developed by the application of saline irrigation water. Wheat cultivars also
differed significantly for this variable (Table 2). Cultivar FSD-08 had the
maximum turgor potential (0.48 MPa), which was statistically at par with
turgor potential of Miraj-908, Lasani-08, and Chakwal-50 with values of
0.47, 0.46, and 0.46 MPa, respectively. Cultivars Sehar and SH-2002 had
the minimum turgor potential (0.45 MPa).
Data regarding relative water content (RWC) as influenced by salinity stress (Table 1) indicated highly significant difference among varieties
and between salinity stress treatments. Cultivar SH-2002 had significantly
greater relative water content (73.67%) as compared to the others, while
Miraj-908 had the lowest water content (68.83). The relative water content of Sehar-2006 was statistically at par with Lasani-08 and FSD-08 with
mean values of 73.17 and 72.17, respectively. RWC was decreased by 20%
under salinity stress as compared to control treatment (Table 2). It was greatest (79.44%) in crop plants given normal irrigations, while minimum RWC
(64.11%) was recorded in crop plants grown under salinity stress.
Salinity stress decreased the uptake of nitrogen (N) by 36% (Figure 1).
The uptake of N was greatest (117.7 mg) in crop plants given normal
supply of water (control), while the uptake was least (74.82 mg) in crop
plants stressed three weeks after the emergence. Wheat cultivars also differed significantly for this variable. Lasani-08 had the maximum uptake
(108.5 mg) while SH-2002 had the lowest (89.24 mg) uptake. Miraj-908 was

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R. A. Hussain et al.
45
40
35
30

Phosphorous
uptake (mg)

25
De-ionized water

20

100mM

15

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10
5
0
Sehar 2006 FSD-08 Lasani-08 Chakwal-50 Miraj-908 SH-2002
Cultivars

FIGURE 2 Phosphorous uptake (mg) as influenced by salinity stress in six spring wheat (Triticum aestivum
L.) cultivars.

statistically at par with Sehar-2006 and FSD-08, with mean values of 93.09
and 91.12 mg, respectively (Figure 1).
The uptake of phosphorous was decreased by 56% under salinity stress
(Figure 2). Phosphorous (P) uptake was greatest (22.05 mg) in crop plants
provided normal supply of water (control) while the uptake was minimum
(9.80 mg) in crop plants stressed three weeks after emergence. Wheat cultivars also differed significantly for this variable. Phosphorous (P) uptake was
highest (23.13 mg) in Sehar-2006 while P uptake was lowest (13.37 mg) in
SH-2002 which was statistically at par with Miraj 908, Chakwal-50, and
FSD-08 with mean values of 14.54, 14.30, and 13.89, respectively (Figure 2).
Potassium (K) uptake was decreased by 42% under salinity (Figure 3). It was
greatest (123.6 mg) in crop plants given normal supply of water (control)
while the uptake was minimum (71.29 mg) in crop plants stressed three
weeks after the emergence. Wheat cultivars also differed significantly for this
variable. FSD-08 had the highest value (119.9 mg) while SH-2002 had the
lowest value (84.53 mg). Lasani-08 was statistically at par with Chakwal-50,
with mean values of 99.63 and 96.75 mg, respectively. Similarly Chakwal-50
was statistically at par with Miraj-908, with mean values of 96.75 mg and
94.59 mg, respectively (Figure 3).
The response of different cultivars of wheat to different salinity stress
levels differed significantly. Among the cultivars, the highest spike length
(9.85 cm) was obtained in FSD-08 while the lowest spike length (8.63 cm)
was obtained in Chakwal-50, which was statistically at par with other wheat
cultivars (Table 3). The maximum spike length (9.60 cm) was observed in
control treatment, while the minimum spike length (8.80 cm) was observed

2145

Nutrient Uptake under Salinity Stress

140

120

100

80
Potassium
uptake (mg)

De-ionized water
60

100mM

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40

20

0
Sehar 2006 FSD-08 Lasani-08 Chakwal-50 Miraj-908 SH-2002
Cultivars

FIGURE 3 Potassium uptake (mg) as influenced by salinity stress in six spring wheat (Triticum aestivum
L.) cultivars.

in salinity stress treatment. Data revealed that interaction between treatments

and varieties were found to non- significant.
The number of spikelets spike1 is an important factor that contributes to
the total yield of the plant. Data regarding the number of spikelets per spike
as shown in the Table 3 indicates the non-significant difference among different wheat cultivars. Among the different wheat cultivars, the highest value
(9.00) was obtained in FSD-08, while the lowest value (7.83) was obtained

TABLE 3 Grain yield and its components of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) as influenced by salinity
stress

Treatment

Grain yield
(kg ha1)

Normal Irrigation
Salinity stress

3.24 a
2.45 b

Sehar 2006
FSD-08
Lasani-08
Chakwal-50
Miraj-908
SH-2002

2.99 ab
3.26 a
2.91 ab
2.62 b
2.52 b
2.77 ab

Stress x cultivars

NS

1000-grain
weight (g)

Stress levels
31 a
29 b
Cultivars
29.00 bc
29.67 bc
32.92 a
29.87 b
27.58 c
27.75 bc
Interaction
NS

Spikelets
spike1

Harvest index
(%)

9a
8b

45.72 a
40.56b

8.95 c
9.85 a
9.38 abc
8.63 c
9.78 ab
9.03 bc

8.33 ab
9.00 a
8.83 a
8.83 a
8.33 ab
7.83 b

43.83 ab
43.83 ab
42.83 b
38.67 c
45.83 a
43.83 ab

NS

NS

NS

Spike length
(cm)

9.6 a
8.8 b

Each value represents the mean of three repeats in column, and the different letters in the same
column indicate significant difference of values from each other (P < 0.05).

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R. A. Hussain et al.

in SH-2002. FSD-08 was statistically at par with Lasani-08, Chakwal-50,

Sehar-2006, and Miraj-908, respectively (Table 3).
Grain yield per plant decreased significantly under salinity stress conditions (Table 3). Maximum grain yield (3.24 g) was obtained in plants provided normal supply of water (control) while minimum grain yield (2.45 g)
was obtained in plants stressed three weeks after emergence. Wheat cultivars
also differed significantly for this variable. FSD-08 had the highest grain
yield (3.26 g) per plant, which was statistically at par with the grain yield of
Lasani-08 and SH-2002, and Sehar-2006 with the values of 2.91 g, 2.77 g,
and 2.99 g, respectively, while the lowest grain yield (2.52 g) was obtained in
Miraj-908 (Table 3).
Among the different wheat cultivars, Lasani-08 had the maximum
(32.92 g) 1000-grain weight while Miraj-908 had the minimum (27.58 g)
1000-grain weight. 1000-grain weight of FSD-08, and Sehar-2006 was statistically at par with each other with the values of 29.67 g and 29.00 g,
respectively (Table 3). Among salinity stress treatments, maximum 1000grain weight (31 g) was observed in control treatment, while the minimum
1000-grain weight (29 g) was observed in salinity stress treatment.
Harvest index (HI) of different wheat cultivars was significantly influenced by the salinity stress. The data regarding the HI as influenced by
different salinity stress treatments is shown in Table 3. Among the different
wheat cultivars, maximum harvest index (45.83%) was obtained in Miraj908, which was statistically at par with the harvest index of SH-2002, Sehar2006 and FSD-08 with the values of 43.83% for each, respectively, while
minimum harvest index (38.67%) was obtained in Chakwal-50. Among
the different salinity stress treatments, maximum HI (45.72%) was obtained
in control treatment while minimum HI (40.56%) was obtained in salinity stress treatment. Interaction among cultivars and different salinity stress
treatments was non-significant.

DISCUSSION
Water relations can be considered as a reliable parameter for quantifying
plant salinity stress response. Many researchers have reported the drastic effect of salinity on the water relations of the crop plants (Hu et al., 2005,
Pettigrew et al., 2004, Abdullah, 2003). Salinity can damage the plants
through its osmotic effects, equivalent to decrease in water activity. The
decrease in water relations of the plants due to salinity is in accordance
with the findings of Chaudhary et al. (1997) who reported disturbed water relations in plants sensitive to salinity, which can directly affect growth
through reduced turgidity. The decrease in water potential may be due to
high internal concentration of toxic ions, which resulted in low external water potential (Hanif and Davies 1998). The decrease in the water relations of

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Nutrient Uptake under Salinity Stress

2147

wheat due to salinity stress has also been reported by Haouala et al., (2000).
Any reduction in turgor due to salinity, even if temporary, is liable to induce
growth imbibitions (Hoffman et al., 2007). The decrease in relative water
contents (RWC) is in accordance with the findings of Molnar et al. (2002),
who reported that stress causes reduction in RWC. Thus, it is necessary to
develop plants with increased resistance to inhibition of growth by osmotic
effects of external salinity (Neumann, 1997).
The decrease in nitrogen uptake may be due to accumulation of Na+
and Cl under salinity stress (Alam, 1999). Low content of nitrogen in grains
due to low nitrogen uptake was due to limited synthesis of specific N compounds such as proline, glutamine and asparagine (Ashraf and Harris, 2004;
Mansour, 2000). Salinity reduces phosphate availability to crop plants by
decreasing phosphate uptake and Na accumulation under salinity stress
(Esechie et al., 2002). The potassium uptake is vital for plant growth, but
in saline soils Na compete with K for uptake across the plasma membrane
of plant cells. This can result in high Na:K ratio that reduce plant growth
and become toxic. The cloning and electrophysiological characterization
of several genes encoding different types of molecules that are involved in
K and Na transport has revealed that these molecules and their regulation
is important in determining the K:Na homeostasis in plants in saline soils
(Schachtman and Liu, 1999). Many researchers have reported the K + deficiency under salinity stress in various crops like spinach (Chow et al., 1990)
and maize (Botella et al., 1997). Leaf Na increased K and K/Na ratio decreased with increase in salinity (Khan et al., 1999; Pervaiz et al., 2002).
The reduction in yield components under salinity stress has been reported
many scientists (Akram et al., 2002, Alam et al., 2002, Rehman et al., 2000).
Decrease in grain yield due to salinity can be attributed to low germination
(Singh and Chatrath, 2001) decrease in leaf area due to decrease in the
size of the vain segments and a reduced number of medium and small veins
(Hu et al., 2005). Higher K:Na ratio content in the flag leaf sap defines salt
tolerant plants (Rajparand and Sial, 2002); the cultivar Lasani-08 can be
characterized as salt tolerant because it accumulated more K as compared
to other cultivars. The present findings indicate that salt tolerance of wheat
and grain yield in saline soil can be improved by enhancing the level of
vacuolar Na+/proton (H+) antiporter (Xue et al., 2005).

CONCLUSION
The results of the present study supported the hypothesis that water relations, nutrient uptake, growth, and yield of wheat cultivars are significantly
affected by salinity stress. The cultivars also differ in their response to salinity
stress. In the present study, cultivars Lasani-08 and FSD-08 proved to be
salinity tolerant as compared to other wheat cultivars.

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R. A. Hussain et al.

FUNDING
The authors are grateful to Higher Education Commission (HEC) of
Pakistan for providing financial assistance to carry out the present study.

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