EFFECT OF IRRIGATION PERIODS, POTASSIUM LEVELS AND ANTI-TRANSPIRATION ON SOME GROWTH INDICATORS AND YIELD OF CORN (Zea mays L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the research field -College of Agriculture - University of Diyala, during autumn season 2014, at silty clay soil to study the effect of irrigation periods, potassium levels, anti-transpiration Vapor Gard and their interaction on growth and yield of corn (Zea mays L.). The experiment was designed according to a split-split plots design in arrangement of a randomized complete blocks design (RCBD) with three replicates. The experiment included three irrigation periods (6, 12 and 18 days) (W1, W2 and W3) respectively, potassium levels (0, 100 and 200 kg ha-1 ) (K0, K1 and K2), respectively, and two levels of anti-transpiration (A0 and A1) which represented spraying with water only and spraying with anti-transpiration in concentration (1%). Results showed a significant differences among irrigation periods, irrigation period of W2 was significantly increased leaf area, dry matter and biological yield compared to other periods. Potassium level of K2 significantly effected on all attributes of growth and yield compared to the levels K0 and K1, and spraying with antitranspiration (A1) significantly increased grain yield and growth indicators of corn compared to spraying with water only (A0). The interaction treatment (W2*K2*A1) was significantly the best in most of the studied characters.