Field Emergence Affected by Zea Mays L. Cultivars and Seed Soaking in Acids of Ascorbic, Citric and Humic

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out during the spring season 2019 and 2020 to obtain a fast, uniform, and high field emergence ratio of maize seeds under a wide range of environmental conditions. Randomize complete block design in the split-plot arrangement was used with three replications. The first factor in the main plots was cultivars (5018, Baghdad3 and Sumer). The second factor in the sub-plots was seeds soaking with ascorbic and citric acids (100 mg L−1) each and humic (1 ml L−1) in addition to control treatment (seeds soaking with distilled water only). Results showed the superiority of soaking with humic acid significantly, as means of characteristics of field emergence in both seasons, respectively, were as follows: Last day of field emergence (12.4 and 12.6 days), time spread of field emergence (4.4 and 4.6 days), emergence at first and final counts (62.4 and 34.4 %) and (95.8 and 88.0 %), daily emergence rate (8.0 and 7.3 % day−1), mean field emergence time (8.7 and 9.3 days), emergence index rate (11.1 and 9.7 % day−1), velocity coefficient of field emergence (11.4 and 10.8) and emergence index (407.6 and 333.3). Cultivars didn’t differentiate among themselves, with the effect of seeds soaking in most traits. It can be concluded that seeds soaking with humic acid improved characteristics of emergence and seedlings, so it can be recommended to soaking maize seeds with humic acid at the concentration (1 ml L−1) when planting them in the spring season.