Response of maize grown in calcareous soils to levels of agricultur-al sulfur, thiobacillus bacteria and nano-zinc

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in spring season of 2022 according to a randomized complete block design with three replications (RCBD). The experiment included three factors. The first included three levels of agricultural sulfur (0, 1500, and 3000 kg ha-1). The second factor included two levels of thiobacillus bacteria, which are the control treatment (no addition) and the treatment with bacteria. The third factor included three concentrations of nano-zinc (0, 50, and 100 mg L-1). The results showed an excellent level of sulfur (3000 kg ha-1) in the grain yield (8.06 Mg ha-1), the percentage of nitrogen in the grains (1.72%), the percentage of phosphorus in the grains (0.53%) and the percentage of protein in grains is (10.79%), and the percentage of sulfur in grains is (0.270%). As the results showed that the second factor was superior when adding thiobacillus bacteria in the weight of 500 grains and the total grain yield (154.64 g and 7.52 Mg ha-1, respectively). As for nano-zinc, the third level (100 mg L-1) excelled in percentage of nitrogen (1.62%), phosphorus (0.41%), protein (10.79%) and sulfur (0.239%) in Grains, and the weight of 500 grains (155.53 g), with the exception of the total yield characteristic in which the level excelled (50 mg L-1) with an average of (8.01 mg L-1). The interaction between the three factors also gave a positive effect on most of the traits under study.