Doses and application timing of boron on the agronomic characteristics of corn

Abstract

Corn cultivation holds great economic importance in Brazil, as it is grown throughout the country, covering approximately 21.5 million hectares annually, with a production of 113 million tons in the 2021/2022 harvest. However, crop production is directly linked to plant nutrition, and boron (B) is one of the essential micronutrients for plant development. Its deficiency imposes limitations on Brazilian agricultural crops. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the vegetative and productive characteristics of corn in response to the application of different doses of boron at different application timings. The experimental design used was completely randomized, in a 3x5 factorial scheme, with 4 replications, consisting of the combination of 5 doses of B (0, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kg ha-1) applied in the sowing furrow and at the V4 and V7 phenological stages. Plant height, first ear insertion height, stem diameter, number of rows per ear, number of grains per row, number of grains per ear, ear weight, grain weight per plant, and 100-grain weight were evaluated. No significant differences were observed between the doses and/or timing of boron application in the hybrid corn used in this study.