Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Alexandria University, Alexandria, 21545, Egypt
2
Salinity and Alkalinity Soils Research Laboratory, Abis-Alexandria. Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, (Egypt)
3
Department of Soil and Water Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Elshatby, 21545, Alexandria, (Egypt), Tel: 002/03 5904684 Fax: 002/03 5904684
Abstract
A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to explore ways to alleviate the deleterious effects of saline-irrigation water on the growth and the yield of corn, Water with three salinity levels was applied to soil, tap water (0.47), 2.50, and 3.90 dSm-1. As a biofertilizer, “Halix” containing Azotobacter, Azospirillum, and Klebsiella species was applied as an inoculum to corn seeds before cultivation. Ascorbic acid and mannitol as antioxidants (100 mg l-1) were added as a foliar spray. Data showed that all growth parameters such as, contents of total Chlorophyll, ascorbic acid, micro- and macro-nutrients, and corn dry weights responded negatively as the salinity level increased. Results showed that the combined treatments of biofertilizer and ascorbic acid have significantly alleviated the adverse effects of salinity on corn growth performance. The combined treatments of biofertilizer and ascorbic acid significantly increased macro and micro-nutrients concentration, total chlorophyll, and ascorbic acid contents in corn plants compared to the untreated and salinity affected plants. In general, the increase of salinity levels significantly increased proline content in corn plants. Among all treatments, it can be concluded that the combination of mycorrhiza and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) as biofertilizers and ascorbic acid as an antioxidant treatments has a promising effect for alleviation of adverse effects of salinity on growth performance of corn plant.
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