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International Conference on

Recent Trends in Environmental Sustainability

ESCON22/SAgri/22
Phosphorous stress as a major threat to wheat crop in Pakistan

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Sameera Safdar , Sabaz Ali Khan , Rafiq Ahmad , Muhammad Shahzad , Basit Ali ,
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Muhammad Ishaq , Amjad Hassan *
1 Department of Biotechnology, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus,
University Road, 22060 Abbottabad,
2 Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad
Campus, University Road, 22060 Abbottabad,
3 Barani Agricultural Research Station (BARS), Jarma-Kohat Agriculture Research System,
Govt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Pakistan
Correspondence: amjadhassan@cuiatd.edu.pk

Abstract
Wheat is one of the dominant staple food crops and globally grown on 21% agricultural land.
Phosphorus is of great significance to wheat because it promotes root growth and winter
hardiness, stimulates tillering and hastens maturity. Deficiency of phosphorous not only retards
growth and development of wheat but also disturbs its morphological, physiological,
biochemical and molecular parameters. This study focuses on the impact of phosphorus
deficiency on the growth of three wheat varieties namely Gulzar-19, Pirsabak-05 and Kohat-
17 that are most commonly cultivated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Wheat seeds were germinated
in small pots containing sand and then 15-days old seedlings were subjected to phosphorous
deficiency stress in hydroponic system. The resulting response was recorded for the
phenotypic traits including root length, shoot length, leaf number, leaf color and leaf length.
Similarly, response under phosphorus stress for the nutrients like magnesium, calcium and zinc
including phosphorous and the biochemical chlorophyll was also recorded. The expression of
the selected genes was studied using semi quantitative PCR using Actin as a reference gene.
Results showed that the phenotypic traits were negatively affected with Gulzar-19 as the most
affected variety under the stress which was evident by its highest proline content of 45μg/g
compared to the control 20μg/g. An increased expression of the PHT1; 9 and TaPT8, genes
was shown by all the varieties under phosphorus deficiency. Based on the current findings, it
was established that phosphorous stress did disturb the morphological features of the varieties
while the chlorophyll and proline content of the seedlings were found inversely related to this
stress. The present findings may help explore further to comprehend the strategies these wheat
varieties adopt to overcome phosphorous deficiency.
Keywords: abiotic stress; chlorophyll; phosphorus; proline; wheat

Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus

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