article · Plants
Field experiments conducted across two seasons evaluated the effects of applying phosphogypsum, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, or both together, on quinoa grown in salt-affected soil with deficient irrigation. Water stress combined with soil salinity reduced soil enzyme activity, plant photosynthetic pigments, potassium content, relative water content, and antioxidant enzyme activities, whilst raising sodium accumulation and oxidative stress markers. These factors damaged quinoa productivity and seed quality. Combining phosphogypsum soil amendments with rhizobacterial seed inoculation proved more effective than either treatment applied alone or untreated controls. The joint treatment limited leaf sodium uptake, improved potassium retention, boosted chlorophyll and carotenoid contents, and elevated protective antioxidant enzyme activities. Consequently, this combined strategy reduced oxidative stress markers and improved overall quinoa crop productivity and quality under harsh growing conditions.
Cultivating crops in dry, saline environments is increasingly difficult because harsh conditions drastically reduce yields and seed quality. Demonstrating that combining an amendment like phosphogypsum with beneficial soil bacteria protects quinoa plants offers a practical, eco-friendly approach to maintaining crop performance. This provides valuable insights for sustaining food production in marginal, water-scarce agricultural soils.
This research could enable agricultural input suppliers and growers to deploy combined soil and seed treatments to cultivate quinoa on marginal, salt-affected land facing water shortages. Because the approach was evaluated across two seasons of field experiments, it represents applied and tested research rather than bench-scale work. However, the abstract does not outline formal product formulation, cost analyses, or direct pathways to commercial manufacture.
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The aim of the study was to estimate the impact of soil amendments (i.e., phosphogypsum and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR)) separately or their combination on exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), soil enzymes' activity (urease and dehydrogenase), pigment content, relative water content (RWC), antioxidant enzymatic activity, oxidative stress, productivity, and quality of quinoa under deficient irrigation conditions in two field experiments during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 seasons under salt-affected soil. Results revealed that ESP, soil urease activity, soil dehydrogenase activity, leaf chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids, leaf K content, RWC, SOD (superoxide dismutase), CAT (catalase), and POD (peroxidase) activities were declined, resulting in overproduction of leaf Na content, proline content, and oxidative stress indicators (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>, malondialdehyde (MDA) and electrolyte leakage) under water stress and soil salinity, which negatively influence yield-related traits, productivity, and seed quality of quinoa. However, amendment of salt-affected soil with combined phosphogypsum and seed inoculation with PGPR under deficient irrigation conditions was more effective than singular application and control plots in ameliorating the harmful effects of water stress and soil salinity. Additionally, combined application limited Na uptake in leaves and increased K uptake and leaf chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids as well as improved SOD, CAT, and POD activities to ameliorate oxidative stress indicators (H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>, MDA, and electrolyte leakage), which eventually positively reflected on productivity and quality in quinoa. We conclude that the potential utilization of phosphogypsum and PGPR are very promising as sustainable eco-friendly strategies to improve quinoa tolerance to water stress under soil salinity.
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DOI: 10.3390/plants11070872
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