Effect of Chemical and Biological Phosphorus on Antioxidant Enzymes Activity and Some Biochemical Traits of Spring Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) under Water Deficit Stress Conditions

To study the effects of biological and chemical phosphorus on antioxidant enzyme activity in safflower under water deficit conditions, an experiment was conducted in 2012 at the Research Field of the Faculty of Agriculture, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran. The experimental design was a split-factorial with three replicates. The main factor was the three levels of irrigation treatment: full irrigation (irrigation up to 50% soil moisture depletion relative to field capacity), water stress in the vegetative and flowering stages (irrigation up to 75% soil moisture depletion relative to field capacity). The sub-factor was the six treatments resulting from three levels of phosphate chemical fertilizer (0, 50, and 100 kg ha-1 Triple Super Phosphate), each at two levels of Barvar-2 bio-fertilizer (with and without inoculation with Barvar-2). According to the results of our experiment, antioxidant enzyme activity is affected by high levels of chemical phosphorus when there is no inoculation with biofertilizer (Barvar 2) under water stress in the vegetative and flowering stages. The results showed that inoculation with Barvar 2 in the absence of added chemical phosphorus increases the catalase activity and soluble protein concentration under drought stress in the vegetative and flowering stages. Also, using chemical phosphorus followed by Barvar 2 led to increase in the polyphenol oxidase activity and superoxide dismutase activity under these conditions. Inoculation with Barvar 2 in the absence of added chemical phosphorus significantly decreased the amount of malondialdehyde under stress condition at the flowering stage. It was demonstrated that inoculation with a biological fertilizer (Barvar 2) followed by application of a chemical phosphorus fertilizer under drought conditions could decrease the detrimental effects of drought stress on spring safflower.