EFFECT OF ETHEREL AND SILICON INTERACTION ON GROWTH OF POPCORN (Zea mays ssp.everta) UNDER DEFICIT IRRIGATION

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out in a private field ( Abu-Garaq ,10km west Hilla city) during the autumn season of 2015 in silty clay loam soil. In order to study the effect of interaction between Ethrel and Silicon in the growth of Popcorn (Zea mays ssp.everta.) at cutoff irrigation on vegetative growth .The Split- Split- plot arrangement in randomized complete block design with three replications was used, in which irrigation treatments {full irrigation (a0)} and {deficit irrigation applied at the 8-leaf stage (a1) }operated the main plot , while Ethrel concentrations ( applied at the 6- leaf stage) b0 (without spray), b1 (Ethrel concentration of 0.75 ml.L -1), b2 (Ethrel concentration of 1.5 ml.L -1 ) operated the sub-plots and Silicon concentrations ( applied at the 6- leaf stage) c0 (without spray), c1 (0.1 mM), c2 (0.01 mM) operated sub-sub-plots. Seeds of Popcorn variety Surur was planting in 24/7/2015 on ridges in both sides. The data were taken , analyzed and the averages were tested by least significant difference. The results showed that deficit irrigation reduced significantly plant height , LA, LAI, number of leaves and ear height . Spray b2 (Ethrel concentration of 1.5 ml.L -1 ) reduced significantly plant height , LA, LAI, number of leaves ,ear height and Spray silicon at concentration 0.1 mM was significantly superior in the plant height , LA, LAI,ear height . The interaction between the factors studied had significant effect on most studied characteristics .