Application of visible and near-infrared spectrophotometry for detecting salinity effects on wheat leaves (Triticumasativum L.)

Abstract

Soil and water salinity is the most limiting factor for plant growth and productivity. Due to a high rate of evaporation, agricultural lands become saline in arid regions after a while. This leads to a decline in plant production. The present study investigated the capability of visible and near infrared (VNIR) spectrophotometry as a non-destructive method in detecting salinity effect on wheat leaves. A completely randomized design was work out with four salinity levels and three replicates. Wheat seeds were planted in plastic pots and irrigated with four levels of saline water [0 (control), 4, 8 and 12 dSm^-1] Leaf spectrophotometry at VNIR (190-1100 nm) wavelength was performed on wheat leaves at the nodule-formation growth stage. The results indicated that treatments are discriminated mostly by reflectance and absorption spectra of 530-660 nm although a difference existed between the control treatment and the other treatments at 700-1100 nm. The difference between the treatments of T0, T4 and T12 was found to be significant (P<0.01) in the reflectance with an absorption value of 530-660. Although all the treatments are discriminated at 700-1100nm visually, the difference between them was statistically insignificant at this wave range.