Ameliorative role of potassium on water relations, antioxidative enzymes and yield of sweet corn genotypes under water deficit

Abstract

Purpose: In recent years, it has been revealed that potassium delivers drought stress tolerance in many crops. This nutrient is not yet tested for sweetcorn. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of drought and soil applied potassium on water relations, antioxidant enzymes and yield attributes of two sweet corn genotypes in India. Research Method: The factorial experiment was set-up with 5 replications in complete randomized block design. Factor one comprised of two genotypes (Sugar-75 and NSC 901B), factor two had six different water treatments and factor three with two different potassium levels. This investigation was designed with two genotypes of sweet corn to study the interaction between various water deficit conditions and soil applied potassium. Findings: Drought stress significantly decreased the water potential, osmotic potentialand relative water content and caused osmotic stress in sweet corn plants. Antioxidant enzymes activities were found to be up-regulated under drought stress while yield attributes were adversely affected by water deficit. Application of potassium increased the adaptation to water deficit stress by positively modulating the tested parameters. Results procured from this study suggested that exogenously applied potassium mitigated the drought mediated constrains on sweet corn and enhanced drought tolerance. Research limitation: The experiments were carried out in polythene pots to provide a uniform soil condition which was the main limitation when compared to field trials. Originality/value: Results of this experiment revealed that exogenous application of potassium can alleviate the damaging effect of drought stress on sweet corn. However, more research on other crops is needed to ensure its long-term sustainability.