Quantitative Dissection of Salt Tolerance for Sustainable Wheat Production in Sodic Agro-Ecosystems through Farmers’ Participatory Approach: An Indian Experience

Parvender Sheoran, Arvind Kumar, Raman Sharma, Kailash Prajapat, Ashwani Kumar, Arijit Barman, R. Raju, Satyendra Kumar, Yousuf Jaffer Dar, Ranjay K. Singh, Satish Kumar Sanwal, Rajender Kumar Yadav, Ved Prakash Chahal and Parbodh Chander Sharma
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Parvender Sheoran: ICAR—Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal 132001, India
Arvind Kumar: ICAR—Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal 132001, India
Raman Sharma: ICAR—Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal 132001, India
Kailash Prajapat: ICAR—Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal 132001, India
Ashwani Kumar: ICAR—Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal 132001, India
Arijit Barman: ICAR—Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal 132001, India
R. Raju: ICAR—Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal 132001, India
Satyendra Kumar: ICAR—Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal 132001, India
Yousuf Jaffer Dar: ICAR—Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal 132001, India
Ranjay K. Singh: ICAR—Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal 132001, India
Satish Kumar Sanwal: ICAR—Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal 132001, India
Rajender Kumar Yadav: ICAR—Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal 132001, India
Ved Prakash Chahal: Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi 110001, India
Parbodh Chander Sharma: ICAR—Central Soil Salinity Research Institute, Karnal 132001, India

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-16

Abstract: To explore the comparative effects of field sodicity (soil pH) and irrigation water residual alkalinity (RSC iw ) on physiological and biochemical attributes of salt tolerance, and crop performance of two wheat varieties (KRL 210, HD 2967), a total of 308 on-farm trials were carried out in sodicity affected Ghaghar Basin of Haryana, India. Salt tolerant variety KRL 210 maintained relatively higher leaf relative water content (RWC; 1.9%), photosynthetic rate (Pn; 5.1%), stomatal conductance (gS; 6.6%), and transpiration (E; 4.1%) with lower membrane injury (MII; −8.5%), and better control on accumulation of free proline (P; −18.4%), Na + /K + in shoot (NaK_S; −23.1%) and root (NaK_R; −18.7%) portion compared to traditional HD 2967. Altered physiological response suppressed important yield-related traits revealing repressive effects of sodicity stress on wheat yields; albeit to a lesser extent in KRL 210 with each gradual increase in soil pH (0.77–1.10 t ha −1 ) and RSC iw (0.29–0.33 t ha −1 ). HD 2967 significantly outyielded KRL 210 only at soil pH ≤ 8.2 and RSC iw ≤ 2.5 me L −1 . By comparisons, substantial improvements in salt tolerance potential of KRL 210 with increasing sodicity stress compensated in attaining significantly higher yields as and when soil pH becomes >8.7 and RSC iw > 4 me L −1 . Designing such variety-oriented threshold limits of sodicity tolerance in wheat will help address the challenge to enhance crop resilience, closing the yield gaps and improve rural livelihood under the existing or predicted levels of salt stress.

Keywords: physiological adaptation; RSC water; salt tolerance mechanisms; sodic soils; wheat yield (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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