*Article* **Zn Fertilizer and Mycorrhizal Inoculation Effect on Bread Wheat Cultivar Grown under Water Deficit**

**Neila Abdi \*, Angeline Van Biljon, Chrisna Steyn and Maryke Labuschagne**

Department of Plant Sciences (Plant Breeding), University of the Free State, Bloemfontein 9300, South Africa **\*** Correspondence: neilaabdi@gmail.com

**Abstract:** During drought stress, many enzymes are inactivated in plants due to Zn deficiency. Zn application and arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi (AMF)–wheat symbiosis reportedly improve the tolerance of plants to drought stress. This study was done to investigate the effect of Zn and AMF on plant growth, yield attributes, relative water content (RWC), harvest index (HI), photosynthetic activity, solute accumulation, glycine betaine (GB) accumulation, antioxidant activities [(catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD)], and ionic attributes in a bread wheat cultivar (SST806) under drought-stress in plants grown under greenhouse conditions. Zn application and AMF inoculation, separately and combined, enhanced all plant growth parameters and yield. Root dry weight (RDW) was increased by 25, 30, and 46% for these three treatments, respectively, under drought conditions compared to the control treatment. Overall, Zn application, AMF inoculation, and their combination increased protein content, RWC, and harvest index (HI) under drought stress. However, AMF inoculation improved proline content more than Zn application under the same conditions. Regarding GB accumulation, AMF, Zn, and the combination of Zn and AMF increased GB under drought compared to well-watered conditions by 31.71, 10.36, and 70.70%, respectively. For the antioxidant defense, AMF inoculation and Zn application improved SOD and CAT activity by 58 and 56%, respectively. This study showed that Zn and/or AMF increased antioxidant levels and ionic attributes under abiotic stress.

**Keywords:** bread wheat; AMF; zinc; drought; growth parameters; osmolyte; osmoprotector; ionic attributes
