Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Acta Physiologiae Plantarum (2018) 40:110 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-018-2681-0 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Sugar beet extract acts as a natural bio-stimulant for physio- biochemical attributes in water stressed wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Ali Noman 1  · Qasim Ali 1  · Jazia Naseem 1  · M. Tariq Javed 1  · Hina Kanwal 2  · Waqar Islam 3  · Muhammad Aqeel 4  · Noreen Khalid 5  · Sara Zafar 1  · Muhammad Tayyeb 6  · Naeem Iqbal 1  · Mahmooda Buriro 7  · Junaid Maqsood 1  · Samreena Shahid 1 Received: 23 August 2017 / Revised: 25 April 2018 / Accepted: 4 May 2018 © Franciszek Górski Institute of Plant Physiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków 2018 Abstract The present study investigated the role of sugar beet extract (SBE) as a bio-stimulant to ameliorate the adverse efects of drought on seed germination and growth of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Diferent concentrations of SBE (0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50%) were used for priming the wheat seeds. The experiment was conducted in laboratory (PEG-8000 was used to cre- ate water stress) as well as under natural environmental conditions (using soil with 100 and 60% feld capacity). Signifcant ameliorating efects of seed priming with SBE were recorded on diferent germination attributes, i.e., time to 50% emergence (E 50 ), germination index (GI), mean emergence time (MET), germination percentage (G%), coefcient of uniformity of emergence (CUE) and germination energy (GE) under water stress. Without priming, the plants exhibited symptoms of water stress like decreased biomass, reduction in photosynthetic pigments, e.g., chlorophyll, carotenoids. Seed pre-conditioning with SBE improved the plant growth, photosynthetic pigments, antioxidants’ activities and nutrient homeostasis of plants facing water defcit and grown under well-watered conditions. The maximum increase in biomass, content of chlorophyll, carotenoids and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) was 13.4, 8.5, 11.9, 7.6, 13.6, 42.0, 19.8%, respectively, with SBE seed priming under water stress. In conclusion, SBE seed priming efectively reduced the negativi- ties of water stress on seed germination which resulted in better plant growth in terms of enhanced biomass, photosynthetic pigments, antioxidant defense mechanism and better nutrient homeostasis. Overall, the fndings suggest that seed pre-con- ditioning with SBE as a bio-stimulant will be helpful for better crop stand establishment under low feld capacity, especially in semi-arid and arid agricultural felds. Keywords Biomass · Oxidative stress · Photosynthetic pigments · Seed priming · Seed germination. Introduction Irrespective of hundreds of factors causing impediments in plant growth and development, water shortage is reckoned as a main abiotic factor that afects the crop growth and limits the global food production (Noman et al. 2015, 2017; Ali et al. 2018). Wheat, being a chief food component, is grown world- wide and plays a key role in the world trade and economy (FAO 2011). Due to increasing water shortage in many areas of the world, wheat growth and production has been com- promised (Singh and Chaudary 2006). In semi-arid and arid areas of Pakistan, wheat crops usually face water defciency at Communicated by F Araniti. * Ali Noman alinoman@gcuf.edu.pk 1 Department of Botany, Government College University, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan 2 Department of Botany, Government College Women University, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan 3 College of Plant protection, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China 4 School of life sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, China 5 Department of Botany, Government College Women University, Sialkot, Pakistan 6 College of Crop Science, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, China 7 Department of Agronomy, Sindh Agricultural University, Tando Jam, Pakistan