Open Access

ARTICLE

Foliar Application of Phosphorus Enhances Photosynthesis and Biochemical Characteristics of Maize under Drought Stress

Zahoor Ahmad^1,2,*, Ejaz Ahmad Waraich³, Muhammad Zia ur Rehman⁴, Muhammad Ashar Ayub⁴, Muhammad Usman⁴, Hesham Alharby⁵, Atif Bamagoos⁵, Celaleddin Barutçular¹, Muhammad Ali Raza⁶, Fatih Çiğ⁷, Ayman El Sabagh^7,8,*

1 Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Çukurova University, Adana, 01330, Turkey
2 Department of Botany, University of Central Punjab (UCP), Punjab Group of Colleges, Bahawalpur, 63100, Pakistan
3 Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan
4 Institute of Soil and Environmental Science, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan
5 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21577, Saudi Arabia
6 College of Agronomy, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China.
7 Department of Field Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, Siirt University, Siirt, 56100, Turkey
8 Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Kafrelsheikh, Kafrelsheikh, 33516, Egypt

* Corresponding Authors: Zahoor Ahmad. Email: ; Ayman El Sabagh. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2021, 90(2), 503-514. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2021.013588

Received 11 August 2020; Accepted 07 December 2020; Issue published 07 February 2021

Abstract

Water is essential for the growth period of crops; however, water unavailability badly affects the growth and physiological attributes of crops, which considerably reduced the yield and yield components in crops. Therefore, a pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of foliar phosphorus (P) on morphological, gas exchange, biochemical traits, and phosphorus use efficiency (PUE) of maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids grown under normal as well as water deficit situations at the Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan in 2014. Two different treatments (control and P @ 8 kg ha⁻¹ ) and four hybrids (Hycorn, 31P41, 65625, and 32B33) of maize were tested by using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Results showed that the water stress caused a remarkable decline in total soluble protein (9.7%), photosynthetic rate (9.4%) and transpiration rate (13.4%), stomatal conductance (10.2%), and internal CO₂ rate (20.4%) comparative to well-watered control. An increase of 37.1%, 36.8%, and 24.5% were recorded for proline, total soluble sugar, and total free amino acid, respectively. However, foliar P application minimized the negative impact of drought by improving plant growth, physio-biochemical attributes, and PUE in maize plants under water stress conditions. Among the hybrids tested, the hybrid 6525 performed better both under stress and non-stress conditions. These outcomes confirmed that the exogenous application of P improved drought stress tolerance by modulating growth, physio-biochemical attributes, and PUE of maize hybrids.

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