Response of Maize to Nutrients Foliar Application Under Water Deficit Stress Conditions

Abstract

Problem statement:To investigate the effect of nutrient application on agronomical characteristic and water use efficiency under water deficit stress of hybrid maize 704, an experiment was arranged in a split plot factorial based on a complete randomized block design with four replicates in the research station of Islamic Azad University-Arak Branch, Iran in 2007. Approach: Main factors studied were four irrigation levels including irrigation equal to crop water requirement, water deficit stress at eight-leaf stage (V 8 ), stage of blister (R 2 ) and stage of filling grain in the main plot. Combined levels of selenium treatment (without and with application 20 g ha −1 ) were applied 2 weeks before execution of water stress treatment and micronutrients (without and with application) that was provided by specific fertilizer for maize called "Biomin", which contained Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, B, Mo and Mg in the form of foliar application at six-leaf stage and 1 week before tasseling stage at the rate of 2 L ha −1 were situated in sub plots. Results: Results indicated that effect of water deficit stress on 1000 grain weight, grain yield, harvest index and water use efficiency at different growth stages was significant at 1% level. Water deficit stress decreased grain yield 33% in grain filling stage as compared with control. Using selenium increased mentioned traits but the increase was non significant. Effects of twofold interactions of water deficit stress and selenium showed that using selenium in water deficit stress condition increased measured traits as compared with treatment without selenium. A negative antagonistic interaction was found between selenium and micronutrients on some measured traits. In between treatments of water deficit stress, highest grain yield (8159.33 kg ha −1 ) was obtained from combined treatment of water deficit stress at eight-leaf stage with selenium application and without micronutrients which compared with treatment of irrigation equal to crop water requirement, without selenium and microelements did not differ significant. Conclusion: According to the results of experiment, using microelements in optimum water availability and using selenium in water deficit stress condition increased mentioned traits as compared to treatments control.

Influence of Integrated Nutrients on Growth, Yield and Quality of Maize (Zea mays L.)

“…The maximum value for harvest index was observed in T 4 where recommended dose of basal fertilizer along with 1 spray of Multi-nutrients was applied. The treatments T 2 (recommended dose of fertilizer@200-120-125 kg NPK ha These results are in agreement with the findings of the Sajedi et al (2009) [30] who investigated the micronutrients impact on salinity stressed maize plants under water deficit conditions. The outcomes of this study proved that harvest index was significantly affected by micronutrients application when maize plants were receiving normal irrigation and no selenium was applied.…”

Performance of <i>Hevea brasiliensis</i> on Haplic Ferralsol as Affected by Different Water Regimes

“…Water also have been a limited resource in agriculture and its must be use efficiently. Water also one of the most important limiting factors in plant growth other than Nitrogen (Sajedi et al, 2009;Mirakhori et al, 2009;Schindler et al, 2007;Xu and Yu, 2006;Fan and Zhang, 2000). In plant relations, determination of the water requirement of plant is important for agriculture in dry regions (Gholizadeh et al, 2010;Fuller and Harhay, 2010).…”

Examination of the Productivity and Physiological Responses of Maize (Zea mays L.) to Nitrapyrin and Foliar Fertilizer Treatments

“…Foliar feeding (FF) also improved the stress tolerance of maize, as SOD decreased compared to non-foliar fertilized cultivars (CT). This finding was likely because other nutrients such as iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn) also play a key role as cofactors in the structure of many antioxidant enzymes [76,77]. These cofactors are required by SOD for effective ROS detoxification [78,79].…”