article · Horticulturae
Soil salinity presents a major challenge to crop production, limiting plant growth and nutritional quality. This study evaluated the use of foliar potassium sprays to enhance the potassium content of spinach grown under sodium chloride salinity stress. Spinach plants were exposed to various salinity levels alongside foliar treatments of potassium at concentrations of 5 and 10 mM. Foliar potassium applications significantly influenced crop growth, water status, membrane stability, chlorophyll content, tissue ion concentrations, and antioxidant enzyme activities, specifically superoxide dismutase and catalase. Across the measured parameters, the 10 mM potassium foliar application yielded the strongest positive response in plant growth, physiological performance, and biochemical indicators. The findings demonstrate that foliar application of potassium serves as an effective agronomic biofortification method to boost dietary potassium levels and mitigate sodium toxicity in spinach subjected to saline conditions.
Low potassium intake contributes to hidden hunger and chronic health problems, including hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. Cultivating crops in salt-affected soils usually restricts their growth and nutritional quality. Demonstrating that simple foliar sprays of potassium can counteract salt stress while enriching edible leaves offers a practical approach to improving both vegetable yields and dietary mineral intake.
This research provides applied evidence for fertiliser manufacturers, commercial vegetable growers, and agronomic advisors seeking practical interventions for saline soils. Foliar application of potassium at 10 mM acts as an actionable management practice to safeguard crop health and biofortify produce. Because the study represents applied experimental research conducted on a single vegetable crop, further field-scale validation under varied commercial conditions is required before full operational deployment.
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Agronomic biofortification is the purposeful utilization of mineral fertilizers to increase the concentration of desired minerals in edible plant parts for enhancing their dietary intake. It is becoming crucial to enhance the dietary intake of K for addressing hidden hunger and related health issues such as cardiac diseases and hypertension. This study was designed to enhance the potassium concentration in edible parts of spinach through its foliar application under saline environment. The salinity levels of electrical conductivity (EC) = 4, 6, and 8 dS m−1 were applied using sodium chloride (NaCl) along with control. The levels of K for foliar sprays were 5 and 10 mM, along with control. The present experiment was performed under two factorial arrangements in a completely randomized design (CRD). After 60 days of sowing, the crop was harvested. Data regarding growth, ionic, physiological, and biochemical parameters, i.e., shoot dry weight, relative water content, electrolyte leakage, total chlorophyll content, tissue sodium (Na) and K concentration, activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT) were recorded and those were found to be significantly (p ≤ 0.05) affected by foliar application of K on spinach under saline conditions. The highest growth, physiological and biochemical responses of spinach were observed in response to foliar-applied K at 10 mM. It is concluded that agronomic bio-fortification by foliar use of K can be a useful strategy to increase tissue K intakes and minimize Na toxicity in the vegetables studied under saline conditions.
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DOI: 10.3390/horticulturae7120566
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