Morpho-physiological and oxidative responses of nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Wheat is one of the most important cereal crops in India. Nitrogenand phosphorus arethe major nutrients, which are deficient in Indian soil; hence the effectsof this deficiency on morpho-physiological response and antioxidant metabolism were studied in wheat to improve the knowledge and understanding of adaptive responses of plants. Two wheat genotypes WH1080 and WH1105 were raised hydroponically for 15 and 25 days, using germination paper with four treatments-T1(0%N+0%P), T2(0%N+100%P), T3(100%N+0%P), T4(100%N+100%P). It was found that root/shoot ratioincreased, however total soluble sugar content decreased. An increase of 8.1% was observed in WH1105 as compared to WH1080 in terms of root/shoot ratio. Lipid peroxidation and H₂O₂ content increased with decreasing nitrogen and phosphorus levels, which led to production of antioxidant enzyme as superoxide dismutase (EC 1.15.1.1) and catalase (EC 1.11.1.6). It was found thatoxidative stress was greater under the deficiency of nitrogen as compared to that of phosphorus.