Asian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 1(1): 19-24, 2009
ISSN: 2041-3890
© M axwell Scientific Organization, 2009
Evaluation of Grain Growth of Corn and Sorghum under K2O Application
and Irrigation According
1
Say ed A lireza V aladabadi, 1 Hossein Aliabadi Farahani and 2 Mohamm ad A li Khalvati
1
Islamic Azad University of Shahr-e-Qods branch, Iran
2
Department of Plant-Microbe Interactions, German Research Centre for Environment and
Health, Munich (HelmholtzZentrum München), Ingolstaedter 1, Neuherberg Germany
Abstract: In this experiment, interactive effects o f different potassium application and water restrict on grain
grow th in Iran. The experimental unit had designed by achieved treatment in factorial on the basis com pletely
randomized block design with three replicates. Certain factors including potassium and non-potassium
applications (0 and 200 kg/ha ), certain field crops (corn and sorgh um) and w ater sup ply were studied. In this
study crops water supply was determined by indicated irrigation conditions by keeping leaf Relative Water
Content (RW C) > 95% (non-drough t stress condition or irrigation conditions) and drought condition by RWC
= 60-70%. We noticed, however K fertilizer significantly increased the grain growth rate of plants and although
the non-drought stress treatment significantly increased grain growth rate. W hereas K application persist less
damaging of drough t stress result and it enabled plant to significantly grow its grain under the drought
conditions. Our finding may give applicable advice to commercial farmers and agricultural researches for
management and conc ern on fertilizer strategy an d carefully estim ate soil potassiu m supply w ithin dry or semidry areas as most challengeable issues of environmental safety.
Key w ords: Potassium, drought stress, grain growth rate, corn, sorghum
INTRODUCTION
W oolley, 1969). Water-stressed sorghum showed larger
root/shoot ratio and ro ot length than without water stress
conditions (Xu an d Bland , 1993). Drought stress reduced
dry matters of balm by reduction in the area of the leaf,
height of plant and lateral stem number (Aliabadi
Farahani et al., 2009 ). Also, droug ht stress decreased
biological yield, seed yield and root length of barley
(Khalvati et al., 2005). Management practices have a
direct effect on P, K, S, and Ca availability and utilization
by crops. Manure, as op pose d to inorganic fertilizers,
supplies nutrients over time through mineralization. Also,
the addition of organic matter with manure or with the use
of an efficient crop rotation will affect soil properties such
as cation exchange capacity and pH , and therefore root
and nutrient interactions (Hickman, 2002). Furthermore,
the mineral com position of the soil itself has an effect on
plant uptake of selected nutrients. Interactions between
elements may enhance or suppress nutrient uptake
(Ma rschner, 1995). In addition, the presence or absence of
certain elements can affect the general soil quality. For
example, K is a soil aggregating agen t which is known to
have a positive effect on soil physical properties and
subsequently crop y ields (Ham za and A nderson , 2003).
Potassium stratification associated with NT is of concern
because adequate K nutrition for corn is not only
dependent on the available K concentrations in the bulk
soil, but also on the availab ility of K in soil volumes
whe re roots are actively growing during periods of rapid
uptake. Most K uptake occurs before pollination, and
uptake corresponds closely to corn vegetative growth.
Drought stress is one of the most important
environmental stresses affecting agricultural productivity
around the world and may result in considerable yield
reductions (Boyer, 1982; Ludlow and M uchow , 1990).
Drought resistance refers to a plant’s ability to grow and
reproduce satisfactorily under drought conditions, and
drought acclim ation refers to a p lant’s ab ility to slow ly
modify its structure and function so that it can better
tolerate drought (Turner, 1986). Apart from the effect of
drying soil on the transport of nutrients to plant roots, the
morphological and p hysiological mechanisms involve d in
cellular and whole plant responses to water stress are of
considerable interest and are freque ntly examined (Hsiao,
1973; Levitt, 1980; Blum, 1988; Davies and Zhang, 1991;
Smith and Griffiths, 1993; Close and Bray, 1993; Kramer
and Boyer, 1995; Neumann, 1995). Downey (1971)
showed that the no-stress treatments produced large
amo unts of dry matter. Drought stress during ma le
meiosis stunted growth, stunted tassel dev elopm ent,
reduced chlorophyll content and light absorption (during
the period of stress) but, overall, was not very detrimental
to grain yield. Drought stress during grain filling reduced
grain yield by 50%; grain weight was reduced and a very
high proportion of photosynthate went into sterile tillers.
Moisture-stressed corn plants had relative turgidity values
18 percent lower in the leaves near the ear shoot than in
the leaves near the tassel. This difference in relative
turgidity could account for the lack of silk emergence
while the tassels continned to shed pollen (Barnes and
Corresponding Author: Sayed Alireza Valadabadi, Islamic Azad University of Shahr-e-Qods Branch, Iran
19
Asian J. Agr. Sci., 1(1): 19-24, 2009
Table 1:
So il
textu rte
Sa
Sa .c.L
The results
Sand
(% )
49
56
of soil analysis of field
Silt
Clay
(% )
(% )
29
22
25
19
(0-15 and 15-30 cm)Soil texture,Sand
K
P
N
mg/kg
mg/kg
mg/kg
14 5.2
4.2
36 .7
12 1.3
3.7
25 .2
Any deficiencies in K availability in soil volumes that are
actively exploited by corn roots during the rapid dry
matter accumulation phase of corn gro wth before
pollination can result in inadequate K nu tritional status
and may result in reduced yields (Heckman and
Kamprath, 1992). Plant cells are composed mainly of
water; whilst ripe seeds of some plants (beet, sunflow er,
and flax) may contain on ly 5-15 % o f water, som e fruit,
leaves and roots consist of up to 95% of water. The
function of water in the plant, indicators of its presence,
definition of drought and its effect on plants, and the
mechanisms of plant resistance to drought and the role
played by potassium, are discussed. Potassium was found
to be a crucial factor in the plants' ability to manage water
shortage (Parsons et al., 2007). Drought conditions
seemed to intensify the influence of K on dry matter and
grain weight of millet (Schneider and Clark, 19 70).
Potassium is important in the growth of crops and an
important ion in the phy siology of plant water relations.
Therefore, this study was undertaken to examine the
interactive effects of various levels of potassium and
water in the soil on grain growth rate of corn and
sorghum.
Na
Ds /m
0.04
0.03
EC
1:2 .5
0.18
0.15
pH
Depth of Sampling
8.0
7.8
0-15cm
15-30cm
In order to determine the grain growth rate, each 5
days between stages of first of pollination and harvest (61
and 67 days after sowing in corn and sorghum
respectively), we collected plants leaf and placed under
75 /C in electrical oven for 48 hours and then weighted for
evaluation of grain grow th rate in each stage (Stocker,
1986). Finally obtained data were subjected to analysis of
variance (ANOV A) using Statistical Analysis System and
terms were considered significant at P<0.05 (SAS
institute Cary, US A, 198 8).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Final results of plants characters showed that drought
stress significantly decreased the grain growth rate (P >
0.01) as compared to non-drought conditions which was
higher in control plants, while grain growth rate was
reduced under drou ght stress sorely (Table 2, Fig. 1). As
it was shown in our results, drought stress had a negative
effect on most of the emphasized growth co mpou nds. In
contrary, reducing water supply in soil achieved a
situation for plant to pursue root growth though soil depth.
This shows that in order to resist drought stress, the plant
employed different strategies throughout individual
survival straggle by drought conditions. In terms of
reduce in evaporation plants showed an extreme reduce of
leaf length and width (reduction in evaporation area).
Although significantly reduction in plant height and tiller
number might be due to decreasing of the evaporation
area of leaves and it eventually caused of low dry matter
at the end of growth period under drought conditions.
Those might be correspond to the fact that under drought
stress stomatals become blocked or half-blocked and this
leads to a decrease in absorbing Co2 and on the other
hand, the plants consume a lot of energy to absorb w ater,
these cause a reduction in producing photosynthetic
matters. Our observation indicated with rising increase of
drought stress, its bio logical yield an d grain yield
decreased with rising of drying in soil. Further reducing
of shoo t dry w eight might be due to the reduction of
photosynthesis
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This experiment was carried out using a factorial on
the of basis comp letely ran dom ized block d esign with
three replicates. The studied factors included potassium
(K 1 ) and non-application (K 2 ) (0 and 200 kg/ha ), certain
field crops: corn (C 1 ) and sorgh um (C 2 ) and irrigation
levels with estimate leaf relative water content (RWC) by
> 95% (non-drought stress condition (S 1 )) and irrigation
under RWC = 60-70% (drought stress condition (S 2 )). The
soil consisted of 22% clay, 29% silt and 49% sand (Table
1). For this approach expe rimen tal field w as prepared in
the dimension of 15 m 2 per plot (5 m ´ 3 m), totally 24
plots. Corn (Zea may s L. var. Single-cross 704) and
sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. var. Speed Feed) were used
in this experiment. Initially, plant nutrient request of
nitrogen supp ly was added by apply 300 kg/ha urea twice
at the cultivation time and further at beginning of steming
stage as well as 200 kg/ha am mon ium p hosp hate
(phosphorus) and potassium (K 2 O) through cultivation
time once . At the plants grow th period s and betw een b oth
irrigation levels, we collected 20 young leafs from each
plot for determined RW C by under formula (Aliabadi
Farahani et al., 2008).
Tab le 2: M ean squ are o f grain gro wth rate
S.O .V
M ean S quare
Gra in gro wth rate
Replication
2
19.21
Droug ht stress
1
**31.63
Cro ps p lants
2
**86.01
K fertilizer
1
*23.91
Dro ugh t stress × Cro ps p lants
2
**31.51
Crops plants × K fertilizer
2
*26.314
Drought stress × K fertilizer
1
**38.47
Drought stress × Crops plants × K fertilizer
2
**31.29
Error
22
15.01
C V (% )
8.6
** a nd * : Sign ifican t at 1% and 5% leve ls resp ectiv ely
RWC=
20
d.f
Asian J. Agr. Sci., 1(1): 19-24, 2009
Fig 1:
Grain growth rate of corn (A) and sorghum (B) under
drought stress
Fig 2:
area in leaf, drop in producing chlorophyll, the rise of the
energy consumed by the plant in order to take in water
and to increase the density of the protoplasm and to
change respiratory paths and the activation of the path of
phospha te pentose, or the reduction of the root deploy,
etc. Those findings are in agreement with the observations
of Katerji et al, (2004); Krejsa at al, (1987); Ajayi and
Olufayo (2004) and Garrity et al (1983). In addition, K
application had a significant effect on grain growth rate
(P > 0.05). Therefore, our findings indicated a significant
improved of plant grain growth rate under K application.
Also, grain growth rate was increased under K application
(Table 2, F ig. 2). Pota ssium is im portant for a plan t's
ability to withstand extreme drought stress. Some field
crops showed ability of water relations adjustment which
refers to water use efficiency. Soil nutrients like as
Potassium ions affect water transp ort in whole p lant,
Grain growth rate of corn (A) and sorghum (B) under
K fertilizer
maintain cell pressure and regulate the opening and
closing of stomates (small openings found on the leaf
respo nsible for cooling and taking in carbon dioxide for
photosynthesis). Those results were similar with the
findings of Martens and Arny (1967) and Yin and Vyn
(2002). Regarding to this fact, our data indicated that
crops plants had a significant effe ct on grain grow th rate
(P>0.01) and p reform ed hig hest grain gro wth rate in corn
(Table 2, Fig. 3). Data of drought subject and interactive
effect between K application and crops plants has been
demonstrated in Fig. 4. Significant different between
crops plants treated with K application under water
restriction was highlighted with compare to nonapplication K un der dro ught cond itions. Treatment was
21
Asian J. Agr. Sci., 1(1): 19-24, 2009
application was contributed to protect root against
damaging effects of drought stress. Currently the control
of drought stress has been paying attentions due to the
most important environmental factor in arid and semi
–arid regions. It may useful to consider on screen certain
local crops and fertilizer strategies to gain higher
predictability under scope of limited available water
recourse in these regions. Practically, findings may
suggest farmers and agricultural researches to consider
carefu lly on limiting or control the huge among of soil
potassium application in suffered soils by water restriction
as current challenge of scientist in global changes.
ACKNOW LEDGEMENTS
Autho rs acknowledge the financial support by the
Islamic Azad University of Shahr-e-Qods branch, Iran.
W e thank Dr. Jahanfar Daneshian and D r. Am ir Hossein
Shiranirad for their great support, encouragement, and
help with the experiments.
Fig 3: Grain growth rate of corn and sorghum
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22
Asian J. Agr. Sci., 1(1): 19-24, 2009
Fig 4: Grain growth rate of corn (A) and sorghum (B) under interaction of K fertilizer and drought stress
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