Humic and Oxalic Acid Stimulates Grain Yield and Induces Accumulation of Plastidial Carbohydrate Metabolism Enzymes in Wheat Grown under Sandy Soil Conditions

Abstract

Humic and oxalic acids have the effects of promoting plant growth. We test whether they are able to positively impact wheat yield under newly reclaimed sandy soil, where water deficiency negatively influences yield. Foliar application of humic acid and oxalic acid on two wheat cultivars, Gemiza-9 and Sakha-93, leads to overall better performance of the plants and increases the yield significantly, irrespective of the cultivar genetic background. However, Gemiza-9 surpassed Sak- ha-93 in grain yield parameters. The highest values of grain and protein yields/ha were obtained in both cultivars, when the plants were sprayed with a combination of 17 mg/L humic acid and (300 mg/L) oxalic acid. Humic and oxalic acid showed accumulative yield-promoting effect. To understand the mechanism by which humic and oxalic acids promoted grain yield, we performed SDS-PAGE followed by MS-MS-LC analyses. We identified a unique humic acid-induced 52 KDa band in Gemiza-9. The band contained three major proteins, Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase large chain, ADP-glucose synthase and NADP-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPN). Thus humic acid increased the activity of plastid enzymes involved in photosynthesis, sucrose biosynthesis and starched accumulation to improve the overall performance of the plant.