Investigation of changes in corn hybrids grain protein, proline, and micronutrient content under the influence of drought and fertilizers

Abstract

In order to investigate the effect of drought stress and the application of chemical and biological fertilizers of potassium and maize cultivars on micronutrient uptake, protein content, and proline changes, an experiment was conducted as a split-plot based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. The main factor was three levels of stress treatment, complete irrigation, irrigation cut at 12 leaf stage and irrigation cut at the flowering stage; first subfactor was fertilization at three levels of potassium fertilizer 100%, potassium fertilizer 70% +30% fertile-2 biofertilizer (60g/h) and fertilizer 50% potassium +50% fertile-2 fertilizer (100g/h) and the second subfactor was related to three maize hybrid cultivars AS71, NS640, and CORDONA. The results showed that drought stress significantly reduced the absorption of phosphorus and potassium elements and significantly increased zinc, copper, and iron elements in the seeds. The grain protein content of normal irrigation and irrigation at the flowering stage was the highest. Drought stress increased proline content. Also, the use of biological fertilizer increased the amount of micronutrient absorption, increased protein and proline content. Finally, the AS71 hybrid was better than other hybrids in terms of absorption of nutrients, protein, and proline content.