Maize crop yield in function of salinity and mulch

Abstract

Irrigation with saline water affects the agronomic performance of the maize crop; however, the use of vegetal mulch may mitigate salt stress and promote an increase in yield. In this way, this study aimed to evaluate the grain yield of the maize plants submitted to different water salinity levels in the presence and absence of mulch. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial scheme. The first factor was the salinity of the irrigation water (1.0 and 4.0 dS m-1) and the second, with and without mulch, and five replicates. The variables analyzed were: unhusked ear mass, husked ear mass, cob mass, straw mass, husked ear diameter, husked ear length, and yield. The irrigation water with higher electrical conductivity affects negatively the ear mass with and without straw, ear diameter and ear length. The use of vegetation cover on the soil increased the unhusked ear mass with and without straw, ear diameter and length. The water with higher salinity (4.0 dS m-1) reduces the maize grain yield but with less intensity in the presence of mulch.

Growth and nutrition of peanut crop subjected to saline stress and organomineral fertilization

“…These results are consistent with those of Goes et al (2021), who found that an increase in the concentration of salts in irrigation water compromised the emission of lima bean leaves.…”

“…The use of saline water in agriculture reduces the osmotic and water potential of plants, which consequently decreases the availability of water, absorption, and transport of essential nutrients for plant growth. This, in turn, leads to nutritional imbalance, affecting the physiological functions and productive potential of cultivated plants (Lima et al, 2021;Sousa et al, 2021;Costa et al, 2021).…”

Organic fertilization and salt stress on the agronomic performance of maize crop

“…Kandil et al (2020) verified an increase in the length of maize cobs when irrigated with water of lower salinity and fertilized with organic compost in the form of humic acid, with an average of 17.8 cm, a value higher than that obtained in the present study. A study by Costa et al (2021), under field conditions, showed lower performance in terms of ear length in areas irrigated with increased saline water.…”

“…Favarato et al (2016) obtained commercial cob diameters in maize crops with the application of organic material in topdressing, similar to crops with NPK in mineral form. Regarding the observed reductions, the salt content of the organic fertilizers may have potentiated the saline effect of irrigation water (Souza et al, 2019), causing lower water uptake owing to osmotic stress, which may have compromised the processes of nutrient uptake, cell division, and expansion, thus causing reduction in cob diameter (Costa et al, 2021;Sousa et al, 2021). Contrary to these results, Rodrigues et al (2020) found no influence of salt on the cob diameter of maize under the same edaphic and climatic conditions as used in this study.…”

“…However, irrigation of maize with saline water promotes stress as it decreases the osmotic potential of the soil solution, reducing the availability of water and thus causing water stress and leading to plant metabolic injuries in the photosynthetic apparatus (Lima et al, 2019). Saline irrigation water has also been shown to lead to the accumulation of dry matter and reduction in the productive yield of maize cultivated in pots and fields (Sousa et al, 2016;Costa et al, 2021;Goes et al, 2021;Sousa et al, 2022).…”