Malik Mushtaq Ahmad, Wani Abid Hussain, Rashid Irfan, Tahir Inayatullah, Gulzar Iqra, Shameen Farhana, Mir Reyazul Rouf, Ahmad Tariq
Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, 190006, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, 190006, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Plant Physiol Biochem. 2023 Mar;196:339-349. doi: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.01.059. Epub 2023 Jan 31.
Agricultural productivity relies on plant resistance to insect pests, with silicon (Si) being increasingly recognized as an important anti-herbivore defense. However, the processes by which Si works to counteract the effects of insect injury are not completely understood. The role of Si in mitigating the adverse effects of herbivory has been mostly studied at the species level in various crops, ignoring the sensitivity and variability at the genotypic level. Understanding such variation across genotypes is important because Si-derived benefits are associated with the amount of Si accumulated in the plant. Therefore, the present investigation was pursued to study the effect of different Si concentrations (0, 125, and 250 mg L⁻) on Si accumulation and plant growth using two wheat genotypes (WW-101 and SW-2) under grasshopper herbivory for 48 h. The higher Si absorption increased the concentration of leaf chlorophyll, carotenoids, soluble sugars, and proteins. Silicon application at higher concentrations increased the dry weight, antioxidant enzyme activity, total phenolics, flavonoids and shoot Si concentration, whereas it decreased the electrolyte leakage, hydrogen peroxide (HO) and malonaldehyde (MDA) levels, thereby preventing leaf damage. We infer that the higher Si concentration alleviates the adverse effects of herbivory in wheat by improving the accumulation of secondary metabolites and enhancing the antioxidant defense system. The effects were pronounced in the genotype 'WW-101' compared to 'SW-2' for most of the studied traits, indicating overall stress response to be genotype-dependent. Thus, Si acquisition efficiency of genotypes should be considered while developing efficient crop management strategies.
农业生产力依赖于植物对害虫的抗性，硅（Si）越来越被认为是一种重要的抗食草动物防御物质。然而，硅发挥作用以抵消昆虫伤害影响的过程尚未完全被理解。硅在减轻食草动物危害方面的作用大多是在各种作物的物种水平上进行研究的，而忽略了基因型水平上的敏感性和变异性。了解不同基因型之间的这种差异很重要，因为硅带来的益处与植物中积累的硅量有关。因此，本研究旨在研究在蝗虫取食48小时的情况下，不同硅浓度（0、125和250毫克/升）对两种小麦基因型（WW - 101和SW - 2）硅积累和植物生长的影响。较高的硅吸收量增加了叶片叶绿素、类胡萝卜素、可溶性糖和蛋白质的浓度。较高浓度的硅施用增加了干重、抗氧化酶活性、总酚、类黄酮和地上部硅浓度，而降低了电解质渗漏、过氧化氢（HO）和丙二醛（MDA）水平，从而防止叶片受损。我们推断，较高的硅浓度通过改善次生代谢产物的积累和增强抗氧化防御系统来减轻小麦中食草动物危害的不利影响。对于大多数研究性状，与“SW - 2”相比，“WW - 101”基因型中的影响更为明显，表明总体应激反应具有基因型依赖性。因此，在制定有效的作物管理策略时应考虑基因型的硅获取效率。
