Using chitosan to improve growth of maize cultivars under salinity conditions

MUHAMMAD H. ALUDATT, MUNIR AZIZ TURK, ANH TUAN HOANG, MOHAMMAD WEDYAN, ABDEL RAZZAQ MOHAMMAD AL-TAWAHA, ABDEL RAHMAN AL-TAWAHA, EZZ AL-DEIN MUHAMMED AL-RAMAMNEH

Abstract: Chitosan has been broadly used in agriculture to reduce harmful effects on plants during unfavorable conditions as well as to enhance plant growth. Two experiments were conducted to (i) determine the ability of chitosan to alleviate the deleterious effects of salinity on two maize cultivars, (ii) analyze the effects of different levels of chitosan application on the growth of maize under salinity stress. Results indicated that salinity has negative effects on shoot and root growth, where a signifi cant decrease was observed in shoot and root dry weight, plant height and leaf areas for both maize genotypes at the 4-leaf stage. Foliar application of chitosan improved plant growth for non-saline treated plants and ameliorated the adverse effects of salinity on shoot and root growth more in SR03 than in Pioneer 3906 maize genotypes. Results also indicated that transpiration rates were neither affected by salinity level nor by chitosan application at any rate.

Keywords: hydroponic; natural elicitors; transpiration rate

Date published: 2018-06-27