Response of popcorn (Zea mays spp.everta l. ) to urea and sulfur fertilizer and with foilar urea application

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out in private field ( Abu-Garaq ,10 km west of the city of Hilla) during the autumn season of 2014 in silty clay loam soil, to study the response of popcorn to spraying urea under different soil fertilization levels with urea and agricultural sulfur. Split – split blot design in randomized complete blocks design (RCBD) in three replications was used. The factors were: soil fertilizer with urea (0, 100 and 200 kg ha-1 ) which were given symbols (U0 ,U100,U200) respectively, and three agricultural sulfur levels (0-10-20 kg ha-1) which were given symbols (S0 , S10,S20) respectively, and two levels of spraying urea (spraying and control ). The spraying was done twice (the first at 12 leaves stage while the second spray was in silk appearance stage (a concentration of %0.05) even full wet. ) which were given symbols (A0 , A1) respectively. The results showed that 200 kg ha-1 (U200) was superior significantly in plant height, plant leaves number , leaf area, leaf dry weight, leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD) , the percentage of leaf content of N, P and K , ear rows number, grain number per row, the weight of 300 grain , plant and total grain yield (249.1 cm, 17.97, 630.9 cm2, 18.24 g, 58.88, 2.45, 0.37 , 2.82 , 19.42 , 45.5 , 45,2 g, , 160.11 g, 7.63 ton.ha-1) respectively , Sulfur level 20 kg ha-1 (S20) was superior and gave the highest average of : plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf area, leaf dry weight , the percentage of each of N , P , K in leaves, ear rows number , grain no. per row, weight of 300 grain (237.7 cm, 17.67, 651.2 cm2, 17.58 , 2.54 , 0.37 , 2.88 , 18.97 , 43.48 g ) respectively ,Spraying urea (A1) was superior in leaf area, the percentage of N and P in leaves and ear row number (635.3 cm 2, 2.49 , 0.37, 19.17 ) respectively. The interaction caused a significant effect in most of the studied traits.