Smoke produced from plants waste material elicits growth of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) by improving morphological, physiological and biochemical activity

• Published in: Biotechnology reports (Amsterdam, Netherlands) Vol. 17; no. C; pp. 35 - 44
• Main Authors: Iqbal, Muhammad, Asif, Saira, Ilyas, Noshin, Fayyaz-ul-Hassan, Raja, Naveed Iqbal, Hussain, Mubashir, Ejaz, Muhammad, Saira, Hafiza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.03.2018; Elsevier
• Subjects: Chlorophyll contents; Compatible solutes; Leaf area; Plant derived smoke; Relative water contents; Root shoot length; RFW; MSI; SFW; Root shoot length; SDW; Leaf area; Relative water contents; Compatible solutes; Chlorophyll contents; SL; PDS; Plant derived smoke; RWC; RWC, relative water contents; RFW, root fresh weight; SL, strigolactone; SFW, shoot fresh weight; PDS, plant derived smoke; SDW, shoot dry weight; MSI, membrane stability index
• ISSN: 2215-017X; 2215-017X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.btre.2017.12.001

•Smoke produced from plants waste material is more efficient, cost effective, vegetative growth promoter, inexpensive, rapid and most appropriate eco-friendly bio-fertilizer in sustainable agriculture.•Plant derived smoke was generated by burning of plant material (leaf, straws etc) in a specially designed furnace.•Four level of plant derived smoke (1 h, 2 h, 3 h & 4 h) along with control were tested on four wheat cultivars in CRD repeated pot experiment.•Plant derived smoke exposure applied for short time i.e. 1 h & 2 h induced significant results as compared to prolonged PDS exposure. The experimental work presented in this study was carried out with the hypothesis that plant derived smoke enhanced the morphological, physiological and biochemical attributes of a cereal crop, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Furthermore, this study supported the hypothesis that plant derived smoke acts as vegetative growth promoter, inexpensive, rapid and most appropriate eco-friendly bio-fertilizer for sustainable agriculture. Plant derived smoke was generated by burning of plant material (leaf, straws etc) in a specially designed furnace, and seeds were treated with this smoke for different time duration. Four level of plant derived smoke (1 h, 2 h, 3 h and 4 h) along with control were tested on four wheat cultivars in CRD repeated pot experiment. The smoke-related treatments modified number of morphological, physiological and biochemical features of wheat. Compared with the control, aerosol smoke treatment of the seeds significantly improved root length (2.6%), shoot length (7.7%), RFW (0.04%), SFW (0.7%), SDW (0.1%) and leaf area (63.9%). All the smoke-related treatments significantly promoted RWC (17.3%), water potential (1.5%), osmotic potential (1.4%) and MSI (14.6%) whereas a pronounced increase in chlorophyll a (24.9%), chlorophyll b (21.7%) and total chlorophyll contents (15.5%) were recorded in response to aerosol-smoke treatments. Plant derived smoke exposure applied for short time i.e. 1 h & 2 h induced significant results as compared to prolonged PDS exposure (3 h and 4 h). The best results were observed in Pak-13 and Glaxy-13 wheat cultivars. These findings indicated that the plant-derived smoke treatment has a great potential to improve morphological, physiological and biochemical features of wheat crop.