Mitigating Salt Stress in Cool-Season Turfgrasses Using Nano Silicon and Humic Acid: A Comparative Evaluation on Festuca arundinacea and Lolium perenne

Creative Commons License

Coşkunyel Z. B., Selim C., Durak A., Çakır M.

JOURNAL OF PLANT GROWTH REGULATION, cilt.1, sa.1, ss.1-2, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)

Özet

Salinity stress is one of the major abiotic constraints limiting turfgrass growth, visual quality, and sustainability in landscape areas, particularly in regions where secondary-quality irrigation water is increasingly used. Developing effective and environmentally friendly management strategies to mitigate salinity-induced damage has therefore become a critical challenge for turfgrass systems. This study evaluated the effectiveness of nano silicon and humic acid in mitigating salinity stress in Festuca arundinacea ‘Bizem’ and Lolium perenne ‘Ringles’ grown under 6 dS m⁻¹ NaCl conditions. Salinity significantly reduced turfgrass quality, color, chlorophyll content, and growth parameters in both species. Nano silicon applications, especially at 200 cc da⁻¹ (NS200), markedly alleviated salinity-induced damage. Compared with the saltstressed control, NS200 increased chlorophyll content by 51.4–62.6%, turfgrass quality scores by 25.1–31.2%, weekly clipping dry weight by 165.1-232.4% across both species. In contrast, humic acid applied at 300 cc da⁻¹ showed limited improvements under the same salinity level. Overall, the results demonstrate that nano silicon, particularly at 200 cc da⁻¹, provides a more effective and consistent strategy than humic acid for improving physiological performance and visual quality of cool-season turfgrasses under moderate salinity stress.