Alleviating the adverse effects of salinity hazards on faba beans by some soil amendments and nano-silica foliar application
Maha Badawy MostafaMohamed Abd Elaziz, Yasser K. Abdel-Monem, Farag Ahmed Ali
Abstract:
Background: Soil salinity is one of the major environmental factors affecting agricultural production, while the introduction of certain amendments mitigates the negative impact of salinity on plant growth. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the interactive effect of some soil amendments (i.e. gypsum, compost, and compost tea) on salt affected soil as well as to investigate the possible effects of foliar application of nano-silica (0, 1 and 2 mmol L-1) on alleviating the adverse effects of salinity and the possible mechanisms by which nan-silica could increase faba bean tolerance to salinity. The experiment was conducted during the winter season of 2018/2019 in Sakha Agric. Research Station Farm, North Delta, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt.
Results: The results obtained have shown that these amendments, either individually or in combination, significantly improve some of the chemical properties of salt-affected soils (ECe, SAR and ESP) which the application of gypsum + compost + compost tea has a better effect on the reduction of ECe, SAR and ESP at12.91, 27.38 and 24.56 % respectively. On the other hand, data indicate that nano Si foliar application has a highly significantly effect on dry weight of faba bean, proline content and nutrient content. The highest dry weight for grains and straw were (38.80 and 1.94 g plant-1, respectively) belonged to application of G+C+T with nano Si foliar application at a rate of 2 mmole L-1. In addition, the same treatment increased the NPK content in grains and straw of faba beans. While the highest proline content of faba bean (4.66 umole g-1) was achieved due to the application of nano-silica foliar application at a rate of 1 mmole L-1. On the other side, the lowest values (2.61 umole g-1) was recorded with G+C+T without nano-silica foliar application.
Conclusions: Application of foliar nano silica with some soil amendments such as gypsum, compost and compost tea could be successfully used to improve soil salinity, sodicity and crop productivity.