Changes of wheat (Triticum aestivumL.) germination as affected by application of tomato plant biochar under salinity stress

This research was conducted to evaluate the effect of tomato biochar (TB) produced at 500 °C pyrolysis temperature and two holding times (TB20 and TB80) on wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seed germination and growth attributes under salinity stress (S) and non-saline conditions (NOS). TB20 and TB80 were mixed at the rates of 0.5%, 1%, and 2% (w/w) with clay soil for S and NOS and wheat plant seed were sown in these mixtures. The effects of factors (salt, TB, S × biochar dose (DB) and S × holding time (PT) interactions) on germination parameters such as shoot length (SL), root length (RL), shoot fresh weight (SFW) and dry weight (SDW), root fresh weight (RFW) and dry weight (RDW), germination capacity (GC), seedling vigor index (SVI), germination rate index (GRI) and some ratios were evaluated at the end of germination period. Besides overcoming the stressful effects of salt, positive effects were observed clearly for all treatments with TB application. GC, SVI, GRI, SL, RL, SFW, RFW, SDW, RDW values increased with TB application 14%, 107%, 13%, 78%, 27%, 82%, 36.5%, 70%, 27%, respectively, in non-saline conditions while they increased with TB application by 18%, 300%, 18%, 222%, 57%, 193%, 64%, 130%, 25%, respectively, compared to control treatment in saline conditions. Furthermore, TB80 was observed effective in S, while TB20 was effective in NOS conditions. Also, TB application at the rate of 0.5% in NOS and 2% in S showed better results for many of the values investigated compared to other application rates.