Journal of Environmental and Agricultural Sciences (JEAS). Ahmad et al., 2019. Volume 18: 10-18
Open Access – Research Article
Drought Stress Mitigation by Foliar Feeding of Potassium and
Amino Acids in Wheat
Ali Ahmad 1, Zubair Aslam 1, Muhammad Zahaib Ilyas 1, Hafeez Ameer 1,
Ahmad Mahmood 1, Muhammad Rehan 1
1 Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
Abstract: Wheat growth and yield are highly affected when it suffers to drought stress. The effects of drought on wheat can be alleviated by the foliar spray of potassium and amino acids. This experiment was performed in the net-house, a pot study, conditions with the objective to mitigate the drought’s threat against wheat growth and yield. In this study, three treatments were applied involving two different nutrients [F0: Control; F1: Amino Acids @ 5ml/L; F2: 2% Potassium] which were applied through foliar spray on wheat grown in an aptly watered (WW: 60% of the field capacity) as well as under the drought (DD: 40% of the field capacity) situations in the soil stuffed earthen’s pots. Crop was harvested at maturity and several growth related (no. of productive tillers/plant, no. of spikelets/spike, no. of grains/spike, hundred grains wt. and harvest index) attributes plus nutrient assimilated (leaf’s potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus contents) by the wheat were determined. Relative water as well as chlorophyll content of leaf was also determined at 60 days after sowing (DAS). The outcomes of this trial illustrated that drought severely affected the above stated attributes. The foliar sprays of potassium and amino acids significantly improved the morphological as well as biochemical characters of wheat when grown in the presence as well as absence of drought stress condition. Chlorophyll contents of leaf were enhanced up to a level where radiation use efficiency of the wheat was optimum. The recommendation deduced from this experiment showed that the foliar application of amino acids and potassium is a high value approach to alleviate the drought’s effects on wheat to enhance the yield.
Keywords: Potassium, amino acid, morphology, water stress, foliar spray.
*Corresponding author: Ali Ahmad
Cite this article as:
Ahmad, A., Z. Aslam, M.Z. Ilyas, H. Ameer, A. Mahmood and M. Rehan. 2019. Drought stress mitigation by foliar feeding of potassium and amino acids in wheat. Journal of Environmental & Agricultural Sciences. 18:10-18.. [Abstract] [View Full-Text] [Citations]
Copyright © Ahmad et al., 2019. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original author and source are appropriately cited and credited.
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