Biochar Mitigates Combined Effects of Drought and Salinity Stress in Quinoa

Abstract

Abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity constantly threaten food security. Biochar as a soil amendment has the potential to ameliorate soil and alleviate drought and salinity stress. Multiple studies have been conducted to evaluate the effect of biochar in alleviating independent drought or salinity stress. However, the potential of biochar in mitigating the combined drought and salinity stress on plants has not been studied so far. Therefore, a pot experiment was conducted in the climate-controlled chamber with the objective to investigate the effect of biochar on growth, physiology, and yield of quinoa under independent and combined drought and salinity stress. Quinoa plants were subjected to three irrigation treatments i.e., full irrigation (FI), deficit irrigation (DI), and alternate root-zone drying irrigation (ARD), two saline water treatments (0 and 400 mM) and two levels of biochar (0% and 5% by weight). In the FI treatment, plants were irrigated daily to maintain pot water-holding capacity. In limited irrigation treatments, 70% water of FI was applied either to the whole pot in DI or to one side of the pot alternating in ARD, respectively. The results showed that combined drought and salinity stress drastically affected growth and performance of quinoa compared to the independent drought or salinity stress. However, soil amendment with biochar had positive effect in mitigating both independent and combined effect of drought and salinity on quinoa plants. Furthermore, biochar amendment in ARD under salinity significantly enhanced plant height, shoot biomass, and grain by 11.7%, 18.8%, and 10.2% as compared with DI under salinity, respectively. In addition, leaf photosynthetic rate (An) and stomatal conductance (gs) decreased under limited saline irrigation. Moreover, the interactive effect of biochar and ARD efficiently adjusted the balance between chemical signal (leaf ABA) and hydraulic signal (leaf water potential). Thus, intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEi) and yield in ARD were significantly enhanced compared to DI, especially under salinity stress. Overall, biochar in combination with ARD might be a wise approach for sustaining crop productivity in salt affected and drought stressed areas of the world to ensure food security.