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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Physiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1336639

Enhancing water stress tolerance of bread wheat during seed germination and seedling emergence: caffeineinduced modulation of antioxidative defense mechanisms

Provisionally accepted
Qasim Ali Qasim Ali 1*Rashida Perveen Rashida Perveen 2Farah Saeed Farah Saeed 3Hunaina Manzoor Hunaina Manzoor 1Shafaqat Ali Shafaqat Ali 1*Muhammad Nafees Muhammad Nafees 4AJAZ AHMAD AJAZ AHMAD 5
  • 1 Government College University, Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan
  • 2 Government College for Women Ayub Research, Jhang Road Faisalabad-38000, Pakistan, 2Government College for Women Ayub Research, Jhang Road Faisalabad-38000, Pakistan, Faisalabad, Pakistan
  • 3 Government College for Women University, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan
  • 4 Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 5 King Saud University, Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Better crop stand establishment, a function of rapid and uniform seedling emergence, depends on the activities of germination-related enzymes, which is problematic when there is insufficient soil moisture. Different ways are in practice for counteracting this problem, including the seed priming with different chemicals, which are considered helpful in getting better crop stand establishment to some extent through improved seed germination and seedling emergence. In this growth room experiment, caffeine was used as a seed priming agent to improve germination under moisture scarcity. Polyethylene glycol-8000 (18%) was added in Hoagland’s nutrient solution to create drought stress (-0.65 M.Pa). The experiment was arranged in CRD, having four replications of each treatment. Newly developed wheat genotype SB-1 was used for the experimentation. Different doses of caffeine i.e. 4, 8, 12 and 16 ppm, including no soaking and water soaking, were used as seed priming treatments. Water deficit caused oxidative stress and adversely affected the seed germination, seedling vigor, activities of germination enzymes, photosynthetic pigments and antioxidative defense mechanism in roots and shoots of seedlings. Caffeine seed priming ameliorated the negative effects of water deficit on seed germination and seedling vigor, which was attributed to the reduction in lipid peroxidation and improvement in activities of germination-related enzymes like glucosidase, amylase and protease. Conclusively, seed priming with 12 ppm caffeine outperformed the other treatments and hence recommended for better crop stand establishment under conditions of soil moisture deficit.

    Keywords: Caffeine, Seedling emergence, Hydrolyzing enzymes, wheat, Antioxidants, PHOTOSYNTHETIC PIGMENTS

    Received: 13 Feb 2024; Accepted: 17 May 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ali, Perveen, Saeed, Manzoor, Ali, Nafees and AHMAD. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Qasim Ali, Government College University, Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan
    Shafaqat Ali, Government College University, Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan

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