Abstract
Water scarcity at critical growth stages reduces the maize productivity; however, potassium (K) nutrition can ameliorate its adversities to a certain extent. This study was conducted to evaluate the role of K nutrition in improving the productivity of maize hybrids NK-8441 and P-32B33 under water deficit (50% field capacity) at stem elongation (BBCH-36) and tasseling (BBCH-59) stage by withholding irrigations. Both the hybrids viz. NK-8441 and P-32B33 were fertilized or not with 60 kg K ha-1 as basal application. Water deficit both at BBCH-36 and BBCH-59 stages reduced the productivity of both maize hybrids due to decrease in yield related traits. However, K application improved the grain yield of tested hybrids both under stress and optimal water conditions. Application of K also improved the root system in both tested maize hybrids. Although, K nutrition improved the net income from both tested hybrids; however, benefit-cost ratio was improved only in case of hybrid P-32B33. In crux, drought stress, particularly at BBCH-59 stage, reduced the yield of both tested maize hybrids. However, K nutrition helped in mitigating the damaging effects of drought due to well-developed root system, and accelerated the yield and net income
Nazir Ahmad, Muhammad Bismillah Khan, Shahid Farooq, Muhammad Shahzad, Muhammad Farooq, Mubashar Hussain. (2015) Potassium nutrition improves the maize productivity under water deficit conditions, The Journal Soil & Environment , Volume 34, issue 1.
-
Views
328 -
Downloads
32
