Evalutaion Of The Interactive Effect Of Different Salinity Levels And Amendments On Wheat Productivity

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted at Gomal University, the effects of soil salinity and sulphuric acid levels on the growth and yield of the wheat. Our results show that soil salinity and sulphuric acid levels significantly influenced different aspects of growth of wheat, including germination rate, chlorophyll content, plant height, leaf area index, spike weight, number of spikelets per spike, number of tillers per plant, spike length, number of grains per spike, grain yield, 1000 grains weight, straw yield, and harvest index. The wheat showed the best performance in terms of germination rate, plant height, leaf area index, spike weight, number of spikelet’s, no. of tillers, spike length, grain count, grain yield, 1000 grains weight, and straw yield under the lowest salinity level (0.33 dsm^-1). Higher concentrations of sulphuric acid, mostly at 400 Kg hac^-1, significantly improved various growth parameters across different salinity levels, suggesting its effectiveness in reduce salinity stress. The maximum observed values for most parameters, such as chlorophyll content, leaf area index, spike weight, and harvest index, at this sulphuric acid level. Results showed that the lower concentrations of sulphuric acid showed small benefits, higher concentrations were more effective in increasing growth of wheat and yield, mostly under medium to high salinity stress. At the highest salinity level (7.75 dsm^-1), some parameters like plant height and no. of tillers showed a decline at higher sulphuric acid concentrations. The study underscored the contribution of interactions between salinity levels and sulphuric acid concentrations, affecting different aspects of wheat growth.