Response of Cultivars of Maize (Zea mays.L) to Silicon under the Influence of Water Stress

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out in the autumn season 2021 to find out the effectiveness of (silicon) in the performance of maize cultivars by the effect of water stress. The split-split plot experiment was designed with RCBD design with three Replication, including(3) irrigation Treatments (I3, I2, I1) placed in the main plot, while the secondary panels They were include to the concentrations of spraying with silicon (potassium silicate) (K2SiO3) (C3,C2,C1). As for the varieties (V3, V2, V1), respectively, they were placed in the sub-sub secondary panels. The results showed that there were significant differences for the irrigation treatment when depleting 50% of the available water (I1) and its interactions with the concentrations of silicon (C) and varieties (V) in the relative water content of the leaves %, the number of cob.plant-1, the weight of 500 grains(g.m) and the total yield(ton.h-1), as the combination (v2*c3*I1) achieved The highest average of the traits was 87.73%, 1.4333 (cob. plant-1), 96.21(gm.500grains), 5.553 (tons. H-1) respectively. And there were no significant differences between the depletion treatments (50, 70%) of the available water and between the two combinations (v2*c3*I1) and (v2*c3*I2) which achieved similar rates in the average of the aforementioned traits. The lowest rate for the traits was When the depletion treatment was 90% available water (I3) and its interactions, where the combination ((v1*c1*I3) achieved the lowest rates of 58.62%, 0.7667 (cob. plant-1), 74.07(gm.500 grains), 2.810 (ton. H-1). respectively, The results of the table show that the binary interaction between the water depletion coefficients and silicon concentrations (I*C) is significantly superior to the interaction (I1*C3) (50%, 1.5 ml/L-1 silicon) Significant superiority in the average of the above-mentioned traits reached 85.20%, 1.3222 (cob. plant-1), 94.13 (gm.500 grains), 5.383 (ton. H-1) respectively, and the lowest rate was when overlapping (I3 * C1) for all traits under study. The effect of the depletion treatments (I) was superior to the depletion treatment (I1) 50% of available water for all characteristics. The binary interaction between the depletion treatments and cultivars (I*V) led to the superiority of the interaction (I1*V2), as it also gave the highest rate for the previous traits and it reached 83.39%, 1.3522 (cob.plant-1), 93.36(gm.500grains) (5.363. ton.h-1) respectively. As for the lowest rate of traits, it was at the overlap (I3*V1). The highest rate of traits for the cultivars was Sumer (V2). The binary interaction between the cultivars and the concentrations (C*V) was significant when the interaction (C3*V2) gave the highest rates for the previous traits, which amounted to 78.90%, 1.3144 (cob. Plant-1), respectively, and the highest rate of the characters was at the concentration (C3) (1.5 ml/L-1), while the lowest rate of the characters was when the measurement treatment without spraying (C1) (0 ml/L-1).