2019 ASIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE AND BIOLOGY 2019 7(卷), 3(期), (458-466页)
Water scarcity is an alarming issue in arid and semi arid regions of Pakistan, which cause drought stress and reduced plant growth. A pot experiment was conducted to study the effective role of Si for the growth of maize hybrids (FH-922, FH-949, FH-988 and FH-1137) with brackish water application. The physical parameters like plant height, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight; number of leaves per plant and chlorophyll contents (SPAD Value) were recorded. The ionic parameters like sodium (Na), potassium (K), silicon (Si) concentration and K: Na ratio were also recorded. The results revealed a relatively different response of four maize hybrids among all the studied parameters. Among all the variable maize hybrids, FH-988 showed the considerable increase in plant height; shoot fresh and dry weight and leaf chlorophyll contents. However, maize hybrids FH-922 and FH-1137 were more sensitive as compared to FH-988 and FH-949 due to less production in dry matter, chlorophyll contents, K concentration and K: Na ratio.