Effect of Foliar Application of Mannitol on Growth and Yield of Maize under Different Water Regimes

Abstract

Maize is an important cereal crop in world. Due to the climate change the temperature has increased and water availability is reduced. Both factors limit yield potential of major cereal crops. Uniform and vigorous stand establishment is the main milestone for economically successful maize production program, but drought stress is the major cause of stand failure and yield reduction. Mannitol is considered essential for photosynthates activity which contributes 60-80% in many plants, it produces photosynthates in leaves that are translocated in phloem. Mannitol synthesis is normal in the cytosol of source leaves with a hexose phosphate pool with sucrose synthesis. Experiment was conducted to estimate the effect of various irrigation levels I0: Control, I1: Skip Irrigation at tasseling, I2: Skip Irrigation at dough stage and foliar application of mannitol with given concentration C0: 0 mM, C1: 2 mM, C2: 4 mM, C3: 6 mM on maize variety DS-555. This experiment was conducted at Agronomic Research Area, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad. The plants were uprooted from field at emergence, tasseling, silking, milking and physiological maturity stages and subject to oven dry method to understand the plant biomass partitioning. All parameters of stand establishment, growth and yield related parameters were evaluated in laboratory. The Fisher's ANOVA analysis of variance methodology was used to statistically evaluate the measured results, and the treatment means was valuated using the Least Significance Difference (LSD) test at a 5% probability level.