Improving Drought Stress Tolerance using Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Compost in Native Grass – (Festuca arundinacea)

علوم باغبانی

Article 7, Volume 35, Issue 2 - Serial Number 50, April 2021, Pages 253-266   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/jhs.2021.61803.0

Authors

Mohammad Sadat Farizani^{* 1}; Hamid Reza Khazaee¹; Ali Gazanchian²

¹Department of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

²-

Abstract

Introduction: Beautification of urban space and creating attractive face for cities by development of green space has caused to capita of urban green space be introduced as an important factor in urban development. Meanwhile, the important role of cover plants, especially turf grass, in creating green spaces has caused to add quickly the area of these beautiful plants in the cities. Nevertheless, existence of plants with high water requirements between the turf grasses, have created limitations in terms of water requirements supply. The grass planted in the country is mainly from imported seed types that are not so compatible with dry and semi-arid conditions in our country and from this point of view, sometimes they create limitations in terms of water supply. One of the native grasses in the country, is Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinaceous), which is a variety of cool-season, perennial and herbaceous grasses. One of the strategies to preserve grass under drought stress is improving soil structure with the aim of increasing the moisture. Organic compounds that improve soil physical and biological conditions (such as municipal waste compost and manure) can be effective. Using compost improves soil structure and strengthens soil mineral content and allows soil to retain moisture for longer. Because compost can hold water about two to six times its volume and prevent it from being wasted. Compost in heavy soils, improves soil porosity and makes the soil better ventilation elderly. In light soils, it acts like a sponge and by keeping water and food safe, it will greatly prevent them from being washed. Therefore, present research was done to evaluate the effect of mixing different amounts of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) compost with soil on some physiological properties of Tall Fescue native grass under moisture stress conditions.
Materials and Methods: This research was conducted in the form of two experiments in research greenhouse of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. The first experiment with aim of evaluating percentage and rate of grass emergence was conducted in a completely randomized design with four replications that the experimental treatments consisted of ten different levels of compost mixing with soil (10 up to 100 t.ha^-1) and control treatment (agronomic soil without mixing compost). In the second experiment, three values of 70, 80 and 90 tons of compost per hectare plus control (no compost consumption) as the first factor and three levels of moisture stress of 25, 50 and 100 percent of field capacity as intense stress, mild stress and without stress, respectively as the second factor that were compared in factorial by a completely randomized design with four replications.
Results and Discussion: The results of the first experiment showed that the amounts of 70, 80 and 90 tons per hectare increased significantly the percentage and rate of grass emergence due to increased fertility and higher water holding capacity and in these treatments, the positive effect of rising water holding capacity has been dominated on negative effect of electrical conductivity of the soil and this topic has led to an improvement in the percentage of grass emergence in these treatments. Furthermore, in the amounts of 70, 80 and 90 tons of compost per hectare, the bulk density of soil significantly decreased and the C/N ratio dramatically increased. In the second experiment, with increasing drought stress in different amounts of compost, the total chlorophyll content decreased and relative water content of plant, proline and electrolyte leakage increased. In the compost treatment of 90 tons per hectare, due to its high ability to store water, the cell membrane integrity was more preserved and it was done less understanding of stress. The shoot dry weight decreased significantly as a result of increasing the severity of drought stress.
Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, application of 90 tons of compost per hectare significantly improved some of physiological traits for Tall Fescue grass in drought stress conditions. Also, it seems that Tall Fescue grass cleverly has tried to deal with drought stress with target of increase the amount of moisture available for itself. Therefore, using 90 tons of compost per hectare for Tall Fescue grass in low water conditions and occurrence of moisture stresses is recommended.

Keywords

Chlorophyll; Drought; Electrolyte leakage; Grass

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