Open Access

ARTICLE

Effects of Ultrasonic Seed Treatment on Rice Performances under the Seawater Irrigation

by Yingying Zhang^1,2,3, Jinhai Liu^1,2,3, Zhuosheng Yan⁴, Gangshun Rao⁵, Xiangru Tang^1,2,3,*

1 State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agricultural Bioresources, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China
2 Scientific Observing and Experimental Station of Crop Cultivation in South China, Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou, 510642, China
3 Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Science and Technology of Aromatic Rice, Guangzhou, 510642, China
4 Golden Rice Agricultural Science & Technology Co., Ltd., Guangzhou, 510642, China
5 College of Coastal Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang, 524088, China

* Corresponding Author: Xiangru Tang. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2023, 92(1), 121-130. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.022697

Received 22 March 2022; Accepted 10 May 2022; Issue published 06 September 2022

Abstract

Irrigation with desalinated seawater is an effective way to use ocean resources and save freshwater resources. However, seawater irrigation would cause yield loss of rice. In order to explore the effects of ultrasonic seed treatment on rice performances under seawater irrigation, the present study was conducted with three irrigation treatments (fresh water (SW0), ten times diluted seawater (SW1%, 0.34% salinity), and five times diluted seawater (SW2%, 0.68% salinity)) and two seed treatments (ultrasonic treated seeds (UT) and untreated seeds (CK)). Compared with SW0 + CK treatment, SW1 + CK and SW2 + CK treatments significantly decreased grain yield by 56.19% and 66.69%, spikelets per panicle by 30.11% and 55.80%, seed-setting rate by 23.05% and 18.87%, and 1000-grain weight by 4.55% and 14.50%, respectively. Seawater irrigation also significantly increased malonaldehyde (MDA) and proline contents and the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD). Ultrasonic seed treatment significantly increased the grain number per panicle, seed-setting rate, and grain yield of rice under seawater irrigation. Compared with CK, UT treatment substantially reduced MDA content, SOD activity, and POD activity in SW1 and SW2 conditions. Furthermore, UT treatment significantly increased proline content and down-regulated proline dehydrogenase activity under seawater irrigation. We deduced that ultrasonic seed treatment enhanced the salinity tolerance of rice by inducing the proline accmulation. Our findings indicated that ultrasonic seed treatment could an effective strategy to promote rice productivity under seawater irrigation.

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Keywords

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