Comparative Morphological Response of Wheat Genotypes (Triticum aestivum L.) to Potassium Treatments Under Irrigated and Terminal Drought Conditions

Abstract

Worldwide wheat productivity faces limitations due to environmental stresses, of which drought is a key factor, necessitating effective nutrient management strategies such as potassium (K) application to enhance stress tolerance and yield stability. Field experiments were conducted during the 2022-23 growing season to analyze the response of different genotypes to K concentrations under terminal drought conditions (TDC). Field experiments conducted during the 2022-23 growing season analyzed the response of eight wheat genotypes to three potassium concentrations (K1: 0%, K2: 1%, K3: 2%) under TDC. The study showed a significant positive correlation between yield and several plant parameters, including height, panicle length, number of spikelets, flag leaf area, yield per plant and thousand-grain weight. Results showed that K3 application resulted in significant improvements, especially under stressful conditions. Under irrigation, the plant height of Ghazi-2019 increased by 15% (99 cm), while the thousand-kernel weight of Subhani-2021 increased by 20% (69 g). In TDC, Akbar-19 yields increased by 25% (7.7 g/plant) using K3 compared to K1. Faisalabad-2008 yield increased by 30% under K2 (7.1 g/plant) irrigation. Applying K to wheat under both irrigation and TDS can significantly increase wheat yield in the later stages of growth.

Keywords

• wheat
• drought
• potassium
• grain yield
• genotypes

References

1. Adnan, S., & Ullah, K. (2020). Development of drought hazard index for vulnerability assessment in Pakistan. Natural Hazards, 103(3), 2989–3010.
2. Ahmad, A., Aslam, Z., Javed, T., Hussain, S., Raza, A., Shabbir, R., Mora-Poblete, F., Saeed, T., Zulfiqar, F., Ali, M. M., Nawaz, M., Rafiq, M., Osman, H. S., Albaqami, M., Ahmed, M. A. A., & Tauseef, M. (2022). Screening of Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genotypes for Drought Tolerance through Agronomic and Physiological Response. Agronomy, 12(2), 287. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12020287
3. Amjad, S. F., Mansoora, N., Yaseen, S., Kamal, A., Butt, B., Matloob, H., Alamri, S. A. M., Alrumman, S. A., Eid, E. M., & Shahbaz, M. (2021). Combined use of endophytic bacteria and pre-sowing treatment of thiamine mitigates the adverse effects of drought stress in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars. Sustainability, 13(12), 6582.
4. Aouz, A., Khan, I., Chattha, M. B., Ahmad, S., Ali, M., Ali, I., Ali, A., Alqahtani, F. M., Hashem, M., Albishi, T. S., Qari, S. H., Chatta, M. U., & Hassan, M. U. (2023). Silicon Induces Heat and Salinity Tolerance in Wheat by Increasing Antioxidant Activities, Photosynthetic Activity, Nutrient Homeostasis, and Osmo-Protectant Synthesis. Plants, 12(14), 2606.
5. Ayyub, M. U., Khan, M. A., Iqbal, R., M Eldin, S., Ali, I., Elshikh, M. S., & Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, A. (2024). Characterization of Bread Wheat Genotypes for Drought Stress Adaptation. Polish Journal of Environmental Studies, 33(4), 4525–4537.
6. Baranski, M. (2022). The globalization of wheat: A critical history of the green revolution. University of Pittsburgh Press.
7. Basit, A., Khan, K. A., Kainat, M., Akram, M. M., & Murtaza, M. (2023). Biochar and minerals impact on plant defense mechanism. Journal of Agriculture and Livestock Farming, 1(1), 1–7.
8. Chaudhari, S. K., Santra, P., Machiwal, D., Kumar, M., Singh, V. K., Reddy, K. S., & Kundu, S. (2024). 4 Soil, Water, and Nutrient (Vol. 85). Managing Soil Drought.

9. Choudhary, V., Kumar, K. K., Sahu, B. H. I. M. E. S. H. W. A. R. I., Muthappa, S. K., & Das, A. D. A. (2021). Agronomic innovations in biotic stress management and its combined effect with abiotic stresses in crop production. Indian J Agron, 66(5), 237–257.
10. Chowdhury, M. K., Hasan, M. A., Bahadur, M. M., Islam, Md. R., Hakim, Md. A., Iqbal, M. A., Javed, T., Raza, A., Shabbir, R., Sorour, S., Elsanafawy, N. E. M., Anwar, S., Alamri, S., Sabagh, A. EL, & Islam, M. S. (2021). Evaluation of Drought Tolerance of Some Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Genotypes through Phenology, Growth, and Physiological Indices. Agronomy, 11(9), 1792.
11. Clarke, D., Hess, T. M., Haro-Monteagudo, D., Semenov, M. A., & Knox, J. W. (2021). Assessing future drought risks and wheat yield losses in England. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 297, 108248.
12. Coughlan de Perez, E., Ganapathi, H., Masukwedza, G. I. T., Griffin, T., & Kelder, T. (2023). Potential for surprising heat and drought events in wheat-producing regions of USA and China. Npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, 6(1), 56.
13. Dadrasi, A., Chaichi, M., Nehbandani, A., Sheikhi, A., Salmani, F., & Nemati, A. (2023). Addressing food insecurity: An exploration of wheat production expansion. PLOS ONE, 18(12), e0290684.
14. Davies, R. W., & Jakeman, P. M. (2020). Separating the wheat from the chaff: nutritional value of plant proteins and their potential contribution to human health. Nutrients, 12(8), 2410.
15. Dawood, M., Sarwar, N., Chattha, M. U., Khan, I., Chattha, M. B., Hussain, F., Iqbal, M. M., Akram, M., Husnain, H., Shahid, M., Hussain, M., & Hassan, M. U. (2021). Assessment for agronomic and grain qualitative attributes of wheat cultivars under agro-ecological conditions of Faisalabad. Journal of Innovative Sciences, 7(2).
16. Dohlman, E., Hansen, J., & Boussios, D. (2022). USDA agricultural projections to 2031.
17. Fang, S., Yang, H., Wei, G., Shen, T., Wan, Z., Wang, M., Wang, X., & Wu, Z. (2022). Potassium application enhances drought tolerance in sesame by mitigating oxidative damage and regulating osmotic adjustment. Frontiers in Plant Science, 13.
18. Gupta, P. K., & Vasistha, N. K. (2018). Wheat cytogenetics and cytogenomics: the present status. The Nucleus, 61(3), 195–212.
19. Hashmi, Q. A., Ahmad, M., Ahmad, E., Tariq, M., Rafeh, A., & Awais, M. (2023). Exploring Drought Tolerance in Wheat: Insights from Biochemical, Morphological, and Physiological Responses. Asian Journal of Research in Crop Science, 8(4), 344–360.
20. Himanshu, S. K., Fan, Y., Ale, S., & Bordovsky, J. (2021). Simulated efficient growth-stage-based deficit irrigation strategies for maximizing cotton yield, crop water productivity and net returns. Agricultural Water Management, 250, 106840.
21. Jagdish. (2022). Best fertilizer for wheat. Agri Farming.
22. Khalili, P., Konar, M., & Faramarzi, M. (2024). Modelling the impacts of future droughts and post-droughts on hydrology, crop yields, and their linkages through assessing virtual water trade in agricultural watersheds of high-latitude regions. Journal of Hydrology, 639, 131530.
23. Kim, J., Savin, R., & Slafer, G. A. (2021). Weight of individual wheat grains estimated from high-throughput digital images of grain area. European Journal of Agronomy, 124, 126237.
24. Lan, Y., Chawade, A., Kuktaite, R., & Johansson, E. (2022). Climate Change Impact on Wheat Performance—Effects on Vigour, Plant Traits and Yield from Early and Late Drought Stress in Diverse Lines. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23(6), 3333.
25. Marques, L. (2020). Water and Soil. In Capitalism and Environmental Collapse (pp. 65–96). Springer International Publishing.
26. Moghal, A. A. B., Lateef, M. A., Abu Sayeed Mohammed, S., Ahmad, M., Usman, A. R. A., & Almajed, A. (2020). Heavy Metal Immobilization Studies and Enhancement in Geotechnical Properties of Cohesive Soils by EICP Technique. Applied Sciences, 10(21), 7568.
27. Montgomery, B. L. (2021). Lessons from plants. Harvard University Press.
28. Mostofa, M. G., Rahman, Md. M., Ghosh, T. K., Kabir, A. H., Abdelrahman, M., Rahman Khan, Md. A., Mochida, K., & Tran, L.-S. P. (2022). Potassium in plant physiological adaptation to abiotic stresses. Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, 186, 279–289.
29. Pequeno, D. N. L., Hernández-Ochoa, I. M., Reynolds, M., Sonder, K., MoleroMilan, A., Robertson, R. D., Lopes, M. S., Xiong, W., Kropff, M., & Asseng, S. (2021). Climate impact and adaptation to heat and drought stress of regional and global wheat production. Environmental Research Letters, 16(5), 054070.
30. Pettigrew, W. T. (2008). Potassium influences on yield and quality production for maize, wheat, soybean and cotton. Physiologia Plantarum, 133(4), 670–681.
31. Pour-Aboughadareh, A., Mohammadi, R., Etminan, A., Shooshtari, L., Maleki-Tabrizi, N., & Poczai, P. (2020). Effects of drought stress on some agronomic and morpho-physiological traits in durum wheat genotypes. Sustainability, 12(14), 5610.
32. Qazi, M. A. (2021). Soil and water analysis manual (Vol. 1). Soil fertility research institute Punjab, Lahore.
33. Saleem, F., Arshad, A., Mirchi, A., Khaliq, T., Zeng, X., Rahman, M. M., Dilawar, A., Pham, Q. B., & Mahmood, K. (2022). Observed Changes in Crop Yield Associated with Droughts Propagation via Natural and Human-Disturbed Agro-Ecological Zones of Pakistan. Remote Sensing, 14(9), 2152.
34. Sardans, J., & Peñuelas, J. (2021). Potassium Control of Plant Functions: Ecological and Agricultural Implications. Plants, 10(2), 419.
35. Sarwar, G., Anwar, T., Malik, M., Rehman, H. ur, Danish, S., Alahmadi, T. A., & Ansari, M. J. (2023). Evaluation of potassium-enriched biochar and GA3 effectiveness for Improving wheat growth under drought stress. BMC Plant Biology, 23(1), 615.
36. Slafer, G. A., Savin, R., Pinochet, D., & Calderini, D. F. (2021). Wheat. In Crop Physiology Case Histories for Major Crops (pp. 98–163). Elsevier.
37. Wahab, A., Abdi, G., Saleem, M. H., Ali, B., Ullah, S., Shah, W., Mumtaz, S., Yasin, G., Muresan, C. C., & Marc, R. A. (2022). Plants’ Physio-Biochemical and Phyto-Hormonal Responses to Alleviate the Adverse Effects of Drought Stress: A Comprehensive Review. Plants, 11(13), 1620.