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Khan S, Basit A, Hafeez MB, Irshad S, Bashir S, Bashir S, Maqbool MM, Saddiq MS, Hasnain Z, Aljuaid BS, El-Shehawi AM, Li Y. Moringa leaf extract improves biochemical attributes, yield and grain quality of rice (Oryza sativa L.) under drought stress. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0254452. [PMID: 34270569 PMCID: PMC8284786 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2021] [Accepted: 06/27/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Changing climate, food shortage, water scarcity and rapidly increasing population are some of the emerging challenges globally. Drought stress is the most devastating threat for agricultural productivity. Natural plant growth substances are intensively used to improve the productivity of crop plants grown under stressed and benign environments. The current study evaluated whether leaf extract of different moringa (Moringa oleifera L.) could play a role in improving drought-tolerance of rice (Oryza sativa L.). Rice plants were grown under three drought conditions, i.e., no, moderate and severe drought (100, 75 and 50% field capacity, respectively). Moringa leaf extract (MLE) obtained from four landraces (Multan, Faisalabad, D. G. Khan and exotic landrace from India) was applied during critical crop growth stages, i.e., tillering, panicle initiation and grain filling. Drought stress adversely affected the gas exchange attributes, photosynthetic pigments, antioxidant enzymes' activities, yield and quality parameters of rice. Application of MLE from all landraces significantly improved physiological, biochemical and yield parameters under stressed and normal environmental conditions. The highest improvement in gas exchange traits (photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and respiration rate), photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, b and carotenoids) and enzymatic activities (superoxide dismutase, catalase) and oxidative marker (H2O2) was recorded with MLE obtained from Faisalabad landrace. The application of MLE of Faisalabad landrace also improved yield and grain quality of rice grown under drought stress as well as drought-free environment. Thus, MLE of Faisalabad can be successfully used to improve growth, productivity and grain quality of rice under drought stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shahbaz Khan
- Department of Agronomy, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan
- National Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Abdul Basit
- Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China
| | | | - Sohail Irshad
- In-Service Agricultural Training Institute, Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan
| | - Saqib Bashir
- Department of Soil & Environmental Science, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan
| | - Safdar Bashir
- Department of Soil & Environmental Science, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan
| | | | | | - Zuhair Hasnain
- Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
| | - Bandar S. Aljuaid
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Science, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia
| | - Ahmed M. El-Shehawi
- Department of Biotechnology, College of Science, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia
| | - Yunzhou Li
- Department of Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture, Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou, China
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