Explicating physiological and biochemical responses of wheat cultivars under acidity stress: insight into the antioxidant defense and glyoxalase systems

M H M Borhannuddin Bhuyan; Mirza Hasanuzzaman; Jubayer Al Mahmud; Md Shahadat Hossain; Mazhar Ul Alam; Masayuki Fujita

doi:10.1007/s12298-019-00678-0

Explicating physiological and biochemical responses of wheat cultivars under acidity stress: insight into the antioxidant defense and glyoxalase systems

Physiol Mol Biol Plants. 2019 Jul;25(4):865-879. doi: 10.1007/s12298-019-00678-0. Epub 2019 May 21.

Authors

M H M Borhannuddin Bhuyan^{1

2}, Mirza Hasanuzzaman³, Jubayer Al Mahmud⁴, Md Shahadat Hossain¹, Mazhar Ul Alam¹, Masayuki Fujita¹

Affiliations

¹ 1Laboratory of Plant Stress Responses, Department of Applied Biological Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Miki-Cho, Kita-Gun, Kagawa, 761-0795 Japan.
² 2Citrus Research Station, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Jaintapur, Sylhet, Bangladesh.
³ 3Department of Agronomy, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, 1207 Bangladesh.
⁴ 4Department of Agroforestry and Environmental Science, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka, 1207 Bangladesh.

Abstract

Soil acidity causes proton (H⁺) rhizotoxicity, inhibits plant growth and development, and is a major yield-limiting factor for wheat production worldwide. Therefore, we investigated the physiological and biochemical responses of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to acidity stress in vitro. Five popular wheat cultivars developed by Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), namely, BARI Gom-21, BARI Gom-24, BARI Gom-25, BARI Gom-26, and BARI Gom-30, were studied in growing media under four different pH levels (3.5, 4.5, 5.5, and 6.5). We evaluated the cultivars based on their relative water content, proline (Pro) content, growth, biomass accumulation, oxidative damage, membrane stability, and mineral composition, as well as the performance of the antioxidant defense and glyoxalase systems. Although decrements of pH significantly reduced the tested morphophysiological and biochemical attributes in all the cultivars, there was high variability among the cultivars in response to the varying pH of the growing media. Acidity stress reduced growth, biomass, water content, and chlorophyll content in all the cultivars. However, BARI Gom-26 showed the least damage, with the lowest H₂O₂ generation, lipid peroxidation (MDA), and greater membrane stability, which indicate better tolerance against oxidative damage. In addition, the antioxidant defense components, ascorbate (AsA) and glutathione (GSH), and their redox balance were higher in this cultivar. Maximum H₂O₂ scavenging due to upregulation of the antioxidant enzymes [AsA peroxidase (APX), monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR), GSH reductase (GR), GSH peroxidase (GPX), and GSH-S-transferase (GST)] was observed in BARI Gom-26, which also illustrated significant enhancement of methylglyoxal (MG) detoxification by upregulating glyoxalase I (Gly I) and glyoxalase II (Gly II). This study also showed that balanced essential nutrient content as well as lower toxic micronutrient content was found in BARI Gom-26. Therefore, considering the physiological and biochemical attributes and growth, we conclude that BARI Gom-26 can withstand acidity stress during the early seedling stage, by regulating the coordinated action of the antioxidant defense and glyoxalase systems as well as maintaining nutrient balance.

Keywords: Acidity stress; Antioxidant defense; H+ rhizotoxicity; Methylglyoxal; Reactive oxygen species.