The effect of ascorbic acid foliar spraying on some morphological, physiological and grain yield of corn (SC704) under irrigation cut-off conditions

Document Type : Complete scientific research article

Authors

1 Professor, Department of Agronomy, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

2 Ph.D. candidate, Department of Agronomy, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

3 M.Sc Graduate Student, Department of Agronomy, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

4 Assistant Professor, Department of Agronomy, Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Gorgan, Iran

Abstract

Background and purpose: Today, drought stress is one of the greatest threats facing humanity in many parts of the world. Drought stress is associated with nutrient imbalance and production of reactive oxygen species, which leads to reduced growth and yield of crop plants. Studies show that the external application of ascorbic acid significantly improves the inhibitory effects of drought stress on plant growth and metabolism. Given the importance of water deficit stress, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of ascorbic acid on some corn grain traits under irrigation-free conditions.
Materials and methods: This research was conducted in educational farm No. 1 of Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources in 2017 on Single Cross 704 (SC704) corn under drought stress conditions in the form of a split-plot experiment in the form of a randomized complete block design with 3 Repetition and 2 factors were done. The experimental treatments include: 1- drought stress at 3 levels (full irrigation (no stress), interruption of irrigation from the silking stage (severe stress) and interruption of irrigation from the milking stage (moderate stress) 2- different amounts of ascorbic acid at 7 levels 0, 50, 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 mg/l. Spraying was done in two stages of 6 leaves and silking. In this research, the photosynthetic pigments include chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b in the vegetative stage and fertility, electrolyte leakage, relative leaf water content, plant height, grain protein percentage, number of grain per spike, and biological yield were measured. The data analysis was done using SAS and LSD test software
Results: In the study of chlorophyll content, irrigation cessation alone caused a decrease in this treatment. Also, the results of the study of electrolyte leakage and electrical conductivity showed that the use of ascorbic acid increased the relative leaf water content and also reduced the electrolyte leakage, and foliar application of ascorbic acid was able to reduce the destructive effects of irrigation cessation to some extent.
Conclusion: The results showed that drought stress caused a decrease in the treatments of photosynthetic pigments, relative leaf water content, grain yield, biological yield, number of grains per ear, grain protein percentage, and plant height, and foliar application of ascorbic acid was able to largely prevent the severe and destructive effects of stress. In general, based on the results of this experiment, an appropriate dose of ascorbic acid can be used to reduce the effect of drought stress on the mentioned traits, especially grain yield and biological yield.
Key words: Drought stress, Irrigation cut-off time, Ascorbic acid, Chlorophyll, Grain yield.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Journal of Crop Production
Volume 19, Issue 1
March 2026
Pages 51-71

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