Modulation of Salinity Stress Using Phosphorus in Two Genotypes of Black Gram (Vigna mungoL.Hepper)

Abstract

A soil culture experiment was carried out in wire house condition to investigate the response of two black gram (Vigna mungo L. Hepper) genotypes PU-31 and Azad-2 grown in saline water and amended with supplementary phosphorus (P). Plants were subjected to five different electrical conductivity levels of salinity viz. 0, 4, 6, 8 and 10 dS/m prepared by mixing NaCl, Na₂SO₄, CaCl₂ and MgCl₂ and two salinity levels with EC 8 and 10 dS/m were subjected with combination of 40 ppm P. Overall growth of plants of both varieties was found to be reduced when treated with saline irrigation water. Results showed that proline synthesis was more intense in case of PU-31 (154.0%) as comparison to Azad-2 (118.3%). Salt stress reduced the activity of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) but P amendment increased their activity. Thus, supplementary P reduced detrimental influence of salts and considerably alleviated the salt induced decrease in plant growth, dry matter yield as well as change in lipid per oxidation and electrolyte leakage percentage. The results indicated that supplementary P can mitigate the negative influence of irrigation water salinity on plant growth and physiological development.