Seed treatment for improving wheat productivity under deficit irrigation conditions in arid environment

Climate change and frequent drought events in arid regions present challenges for crop production and food security in many parts of the world. Objectives of the present research were to enhance wheat plant tolerance to water stress by applying regulated irrigation deficit scheme and treating seeds with drought-tolerant substances. A field experiment was carried out to study the impact of three irrigation levels (severe, moderate, and full irrigation) and three seed treatments [control, soaking in salicylic acid (SAA), and soaking in ascorbic acid (ASA)] on yield and its attributes and water use efficiency (WUE) of wheat. Moderate water stress significantly decreased total photosynthetic pigments, grain number/spike, spike number/m(2) and grain yield, however, amounts of water saving by this deficit irrigation rate suggested a feasible option for wheat production in water limited environments without unacceptable yield reduction. Treating seeds with SAA or ASA significantly increased total photosynthetic pigments, relative water content, recovery efficiency, grain number/spike and grain yield compared with untreated seeds. The efficacy of deficit irrigation was increased by treating seeds with SAA which was demonstrated by the increased grain number/spike, grain yield/ha and WUE compared to untreated seeds. These results suggest beneficial effects of drought-tolerant substances on enhancing plants' ability to mitigate the negative water stress impacts.