Water relations, abscisic acid and yield of wheat plants in relation to the interactive effect of seawater and growth bioregulators

Irrigation of wheat plants with seawater (10 and 25 %) led to significant increases in free and bound abscisic acid (ABA) in leaves, especially at 25 %. The relative water content (RWC) and water use efficiency (calculated from grain yield, WUEG, or from biomass yield, WUEB) of the seawater-irrigated plants were lower than those of the control. Grain pre-soaking in gibberellic acid (GA(3)) indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) or ABA reduced the levels of accumulated ABA (free and bound) produced by seawater irrigation. The stress imposed by seawater generally reduced yield and yield components of wheat plants and the effect was more pronounced at the higher level of seawater irrigation (25 %). Furthermore, seawater treatments decreased the carbohydrate content and increased the protein content of the developing grains. The effect of seawater treatments on ion concentrations in the developing grains was not consistent. The application of growth bioregulators appeared to mitigate the effect of seawater salinity stress on wheat productivity. GA(3) was the most effective hormone in this regard. The economic yield (grain yield) had a strong positive correlation with RWC, WUEG, WUEB, plant height, shoot fresh and dry weight, grain number/main spike, kernel weight and harvest index.