TY - JOUR
T1 - Potassium nutrition improves the maize productivity under water deficit conditions
AU - Ahmad, Nazir
AU - Khan, Muhammad Bismillah
AU - Farooq, Shahid
AU - Shahzad, Muhammad
AU - Farooq, Muhammad
AU - Hussain, Mubashar
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Soil Science Society of Pakistan.
PY - 2015/5/23
Y1 - 2015/5/23
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - BBCH-scale
KW - Drought
KW - K application
KW - Maize hybrids
KW - Root system
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M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84930065869
SN - 2074-9546
VL - 34
SP - 15
EP - 26
JO - Soil and Environment
JF - Soil and Environment
IS - 1
ER -