Interactive Effect of Biochar and Silicon on Improving Morpho-Physiological and Biochemical Attributes of Maize by Reduc
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Interactive Effect of Biochar and Silicon on Improving Morpho-Physiological and Biochemical Attributes of Maize by Reducing Drought Hazards Abdul Sattar 1 & Ahmad Sher 1 & Muhammad Ijaz 1 & Sami Ul-Allah 1 & Madiha Butt 1 & Muhammad Irfan 2 & Muhammad Shahid Rizwan 3 & Hakoomat Ali 2 & Mumtaz A. Cheema 4 Received: 1 February 2020 / Accepted: 1 April 2020 # Sociedad Chilena de la Ciencia del Suelo 2020
Abstract Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important food and feed cereals of the world, but its production is threatened by sudden climate change especially drought. While, low organic matter in soils increases the drought severity. Therefore, study was planned to investigate the interactive effect of biochar and silicon (Si) nutrition on morpho-physiological and biochemical traits under water-deficit environment. Drought stress was applied subsequent 15 days of seedlings development. Experimental treatments comprised of CK (controlled soil no drought stress nor amended), only drought (40% water holding capacity (WHC)), drought + Si (40% WHC with 100 mg Si kg−1 soil), drought + biochar (40% WHC with 4 t ha−1), and drought + Si + biochar (40% WHC + 100 mg Si kg−1 soil +4 t ha−1). Data were collected after 15 days of treatment application. Drought reduced the growth of maize seedlings by reducing shoot biomass (38%), seedling weight (37%), photosynthetic rate (29%), transpiration rate (28.7%), and relative water contents (23.8%) and increased the activities CAT (30%), SOD (38.5%), and POD (33%). The positive effect of sole application of biochar and silicon was observed in improving physio-biochemical traits. In addition, better results were obtained with combined application of biochar and Si in enhancing maize growth such as shoots (25%), roots (40%), and seedlings (27%) as compared with drought. Combined application of biochar and Si may be a viable option to alleviate adversities of drought stress for maize growth and development. Keywords Maize . Biochar . Silicon . Drought . Morpho-physiological attributes
1 Introduction Scarcity of water is the most important abiotic factor for yield reduction in various crops under arid and semiarid climatic
* Sami Ul-Allah [email protected] * Muhammad Shahid Rizwan [email protected] 1
College of Agriculture, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Bahadur Sub-Campus, Layyah, Pakistan
2
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture Sciences and Technology, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan
3
Cholistan Institute of Desert Studies, Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur 63100, Pakistan
4
School of Science and the Environment, Grenfell Campus, Memorial University of Newfoundland, A2H 5G4, Corner Brook, NL, Canada
conditions (Labudová et al. 2017). In the upcoming era, more severe episodes of moisture unavailability, uneven distribution of rainfall, and increase in average and maximum temperatures are being forecasted due to sudden climate changes which are influencing the farming systems and agricultural productivity (Labudová et al
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