Abstract
Water deficit is perhaps the most severe threat to sustainable crop production in the conditions of changing climate. Researchers are striving hard to develop resistance against water deficit in crop plants to ensure food security for the coming generations. This study was conducted to establish the role of fulvic acid (FA) application in improving the performance of hybrid maize (Zea mays L.) under drought. Maize plants were grown under normal conditions till tasselling and were then subjected to drought by cessation of water followed by foliar application of FA (1.5 mg l−1). Drought stress disrupted the photosynthetic pigments and reduced the gas exchange leading to reduction in plant growth and productivity. Nonetheless, exogenous FA application substantially ameliorated the adversities of drought by sustaining the chlorophyll contents and gas exchange possibly by enhanced levels of antioxidant enzyme (superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT)) activities and proline. These beneficial effects yielded in terms of plant growth and allometry, and grain yield. It is interesting to note that FA application also improved the crop performance under well-watered conditions. Hence, FA may be applied to improve the crop performance under drought and well-watered conditions.
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Claims 12
Claim · model-written summary
Drought disrupted maize photosynthetic pigments.
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought stress disrupted the photosynthetic pigments and reduced the gas exchange leading to reduction in plant growth and productivity.”
t0“Maize Performance”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought reduced maize gas exchange.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought stress disrupted the photosynthetic pigments and reduced the gas exchange leading to reduction in plant growth and productivity.”
t0“Maize Performance”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought reduced maize growth.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought stress disrupted the photosynthetic pigments and reduced the gas exchange leading to reduction in plant growth and productivity.”
t0“Maize Performance”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought reduced maize productivity.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought stress disrupted the photosynthetic pigments and reduced the gas exchange leading to reduction in plant growth and productivity.”
t0“Maize Performance”
Claim · model-written summary
Foliar FA sustained chlorophyll content under drought.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“exogenous FA application substantially ameliorated the adversities of drought by sustaining the chlorophyll contents and gas exchange”
t0“Maize Performance”
Claim · model-written summary
Foliar FA sustained gas exchange under drought.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“exogenous FA application substantially ameliorated the adversities of drought by sustaining the chlorophyll contents and gas exchange”
t0“Maize Performance”
Claim · model-written summary
FA treatment enhanced SOD, POD and CAT activities under drought.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“possibly by enhanced levels of antioxidant enzyme (superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT)) activities and proline.”
t0“Maize Performance”
e1“exogenous FA application substantially ameliorated the adversities of drought by sustaining the chlorophyll contents and gas exchange”
Claim · model-written summary
FA treatment enhanced proline under drought.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“possibly by enhanced levels of antioxidant enzyme (superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT)) activities and proline.”
t0“Maize Performance”
e1“exogenous FA application substantially ameliorated the adversities of drought by sustaining the chlorophyll contents and gas exchange”
Claim · model-written summary
FA treatment improved maize growth and allometry under drought.
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“These beneficial effects yielded in terms of plant growth and allometry, and grain yield.”
t0“Maize Performance”
e1“exogenous FA application substantially ameliorated the adversities of drought by sustaining the chlorophyll contents and gas exchange”
Claim · model-written summary
FA treatment improved maize grain yield under drought.
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“These beneficial effects yielded in terms of plant growth and allometry, and grain yield.”
t0“Maize Performance”
e1“exogenous FA application substantially ameliorated the adversities of drought by sustaining the chlorophyll contents and gas exchange”
Claim · model-written summary
FA also improved crop performance under well-watered conditions.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“FA application also improved the crop performance under well-watered conditions.”
t0“Maize Performance”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend FA to improve crop performance under drought and well-watered conditions.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“FA may be applied to improve the crop performance under drought and well-watered conditions.”
t0“Maize Performance”
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8 of 10 groups shown: named compounds and organisms first, then groups whose results differ (checked claim by claim), then those with positive and negative results, then the smaller groups.
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.