ACTA AGRICULTURAE BOREALI-SINICA ›› 2019, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (S1): 64-68. doi: 10.7668/hbnxb.20190394

Special Issue: Corn Drought and water saving

• Tillage and Cultivation·Physiology and Biochemistry • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of Water Retaining Agent on Growth and Development of Maize in Semi-arid Area

WU Yangsheng1,2, WANG Tianye1,2, WANG Chengyu1,2, LI Qiao1,2, HUANG Ziyuan1,2, LIU Shuxia1,2   

  1. 1. College of Resources and Environment, Jilin Agricultural University, Changchun 130118, China;
    2. Key Laboratory of Soil Resource Sustainable Utilization for Jilin Province Commodity Grain Bases, Changchun 130118, China
  • Received:2019-05-29 Published:2019-12-28

Abstract: In order to explore the effect of water-retaining agent on maize growth and development, saline soil in semi-arid area of Western Jilin Province was taken as the research object. Through designing two treatments of non-application of water-retaining agent (CK) and application of water-retaining agent (SAP), field experiments were conducted to study maize seedling emergence rate, soil moisture content, dry matter weight above and below ground, yield traits, photosynthetic traits and grain quality. The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical basis for drought resistance and yield increase in semi-arid areas. The results showed that compared with CK, SAP treatment could advance maize seedling emergence by 2 days and increase maize seedling emergence rate by 4.6%. SAP treatment could significantly increase water content in different soil layers at different growth stages of maize, and the most significant effect was at heading stage, with an increase of 9.67%-16.06% in different soil layers. Compared with CK, the chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate of tasseling stage maize increased by 13.68%, 19.53%, 22.56% and 12.94% respectively.Compared with CK, the chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate of maize were increased by 11.09%, 33.31%, 15.27% and 23.65%, respectively;SAP treatment could significantly increase the dry matter weight of maize at different growth stages, especially at jointing stage, with the dry matter weight of above-ground and below-ground increasing by 32.52% and 30.14% respectively; SAP treatment could improve the dry matter weight of maize leaves at jointing stage. Yield components further improved maize yield and grain quality, in which plant height, spike weight, 1000-grain weight and yield increased by 29.72 cm, 16.04 g, 7.52 g and 8.14% compared with CK, and protein, fat and starch dry base increased by 10.65%, 3.97% and 0.99%, respectively. The results showed that the application of water-retaining agent was beneficial to the growth and yield of maize, and it could be used as one of the important measures for drought resistance and yield increase of saline soil in semi-arid areas.

Key words: Water retaining agent, Semi-arid area, Corn, Growth and development

CLC Number: 

Cite this article

WU Yangsheng, WANG Tianye, WANG Chengyu, LI Qiao, HUANG Ziyuan, LIU Shuxia. Effect of Water Retaining Agent on Growth and Development of Maize in Semi-arid Area[J]. ACTA AGRICULTURAE BOREALI-SINICA, 2019, 34(S1): 64-68. doi: 10.7668/hbnxb.20190394.

share this article