Salinity stress amelioration using humic acid and mycorrhizae on pepper plants

Abstract EN

Salinity is destructive factor and one of various abiotic stresses which strongly affects crop productivity and limits marketable yield of vegetable crops, for example pepper plants.

This work studied the effects of sole application of each of Humic Acid (HA) and Arbuscular Mycorrizal Fungi (AMF), Glomus fasciculatum inoculation and their combinations in order to reduce the harmful effects of salinity stress on growth, yield and endogenous bio-constituents in pepper cultivar top star.

Growth parameters at 75 days after transplanting and yield components were decreased under levels of salt stress (2000 or 4000 ppm).

Applied of humic acid and mycorrhizae, partially counteracted the harmful effects of salinity stress levels.

By increasing salt stress levels, proline, peroxidase and catalase activities and Na content were increased, but photosynthetic pigments in leaves and N, P, K content in shoots of pepper plants were decreased.

In addition, all treatments of humic acid and mycorohizae either alone or in combination under different salt stress levels, slightly increased the content of proline, N, P, K and photosynthetic pigments, peroxidase and catalase activities while, Na content was decreased in pepper plants.

It was observed that, the interaction between humic acid and mycorohizae increased the positive effect of mycorohizae inoculation.

Results indicated also that, mycorrhizal inoculation help in ameliorating the damage caused by salt stress conditions in pepper plants.

Application of humic acid combined with mycorrhizae, promote much more plant growth.

These results provide support for the field application of humic acid and mycorrhizae to decline the harmful effects of salty soils.