Abstract
BACKGROUND: Microelements are inorganic compounds involved in the synthesis of enzymes and biologically active substances. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the physiological traits of maize to ZnSO4 and FeSO4 under drought stress, a field experiment was conducted on maize plants grown under different soil moistures and treated with foliar ZnSO4 and FeSO4 applications. METHODS: The experiment was laid out as split-split plot in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The main plot consisted of three levels of water deficit stress comprised of complete irrigation (control), no irrigation at vegetative growth stage (12-14 leaf), and no irrigation at early seed growth stage. Water deficit stress treatment was specific to the above-mentioned stages, after which and until the end of the growth period, the water requirement of the plant was fulfilled. The sub-plot contained foliar solution of zinc sulfate at three concentrations (0, 5 and 10 gr.l-1) and sub-sub-plot included iron sulfate foliar solution at three concentrations (0, 3 and 6 gr.l-1). RESULT: Drought stress especially at early seed growth stage significantly decreased grain yield, and Fv/Fm ratio but, activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione reductase (GR) under drought stress were increased. Foliar applied ZnSO4 and FeSO4 increased grain yield by 15.22, 10.73 and 10.74% under normal irrigation, no irrigation at vegetative growth stage and no irrigation at early seed growth stage, respectively. Also further increased the antioxidant enzyme activities and enhanced total phenol content of maize under drought stress. Combined application of ZnSO4 and FeSO4 resulted in alleviating maize plant drought stress by Zn and Fe-mediated improvement in photosynthetic gas exchange attributes. Besides the foliar application of ZnSO4 and FeSO4 regulated physiological processes in maize plants and alleviated the adverse effects of water stress. Results showed that ZnSO4 and FeSO4 could be used for improving maize growth under drought stress. CONCLUSION: The highest grain yield of maize was recorded for non-drought stress treatment and was followed by foliar application of both ZnSO4 and FeSO4, while severe water stress and non-application of Zn and Fe resulted in the minimum grain yield.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record, shown for indexing and research. Copyright remains with the authors or the publisher.
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 12
Claim · model-written summary
Drought decreased grain yield and Fv/Fm, especially at early seed growth.
Zea maysNot reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought stress especially at early seed growth stage significantly decreased grain yield, and Fv/Fm ratio”
t0“maize plants grown under different soil moistures”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought increased SOD, POD and CAT activity.
- Treatment
- drought stresse0
- Outcome
- activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT)e0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione reductase (GR) under drought stress were increased”
t0“maize plants grown under different soil moistures”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought increased GR activity.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione reductase (GR) under drought stress were increased”
t0“maize plants grown under different soil moistures”
Claim · model-written summary
Foliar ZnSO4 and FeSO4 increased yield by 15.22% under normal irrigation.
- Treatment
- Foliar applied ZnSO4 and FeSO4e0
- Outcome
- grain yielde0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 15.22e0
- Qualifier
- normal irrigatione0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Foliar applied ZnSO4 and FeSO4 increased grain yield by 15.22, 10.73 and 10.74% under normal irrigation, no irrigation at vegetative growth stage and no irrigation at early seed growth stage, respectively”
t0“maize plants grown under different soil moistures”
Claim · model-written summary
Foliar ZnSO4 and FeSO4 increased yield by 10.73% without vegetative stage irrigation.
- Treatment
- Foliar applied ZnSO4 and FeSO4e0
- Outcome
- grain yielde0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 10.73e0
- Qualifier
- no irrigation at vegetative growth stagee0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Foliar applied ZnSO4 and FeSO4 increased grain yield by 15.22, 10.73 and 10.74% under normal irrigation, no irrigation at vegetative growth stage and no irrigation at early seed growth stage, respectively”
t0“maize plants grown under different soil moistures”
Claim · model-written summary
Foliar ZnSO4 and FeSO4 increased yield by 10.74% without early seed stage irrigation.
- Treatment
- Foliar applied ZnSO4 and FeSO4e0
- Outcome
- grain yielde0
- Direction
- increasede0
- Value
- 10.74%e0
- Qualifier
- no irrigation at early seed growth stagee0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Foliar applied ZnSO4 and FeSO4 increased grain yield by 15.22, 10.73 and 10.74% under normal irrigation, no irrigation at vegetative growth stage and no irrigation at early seed growth stage, respectively”
t0“maize plants grown under different soil moistures”
Claim · model-written summary
The combined foliar treatment increased antioxidant enzyme activities.
- Treatment
- foliar application of ZnSO4 and FeSO4t0
- Outcome
- antioxidant enzyme activitiese0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Also further increased the antioxidant enzyme activities and enhanced total phenol content of maize under drought stress”
t0“foliar application of ZnSO4 and FeSO4”
Claim · model-written summary
The combined foliar treatment enhanced total phenol content under drought.
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Also further increased the antioxidant enzyme activities and enhanced total phenol content of maize under drought stress”
t0“foliar application of ZnSO4 and FeSO4”
Claim · model-written summary
Combined ZnSO4 and FeSO4 improved gas exchange during drought.
- Treatment
- Combined application of ZnSO4 and FeSO4e0
- Outcome
- photosynthetic gas exchange attributese0
- Direction
- improvemente0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Combined application of ZnSO4 and FeSO4 resulted in alleviating maize plant drought stress by Zn and Fe-mediated improvement in photosynthetic gas exchange attributes”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors suggest ZnSO4 and FeSO4 for maize growth under drought.
- Outcome
- improving maize growth under drought stresse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“ZnSO4 and FeSO4 could be used for improving maize growth under drought stress”
Claim · model-written summary
Non-drought treatment gave the highest grain yield.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The highest grain yield of maize was recorded for non-drought stress treatment”
Claim · model-written summary
Severe water stress without Zn and Fe gave minimum yield.
- Treatment
- severe water stress and non-application of Zn and Fee0
- Outcome
- grain yielde0
- Direction
- minimume0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“severe water stress and non-application of Zn and Fe resulted in the minimum grain yield”
t0“maize plants grown under different soil moistures”
The same questions in other papers
zinc sulfate · yield · Zea mays (maize)Results differ
123 papers in the same direction as this paper · 3 in the opposite direction · 1 reporting no difference from an alternative
- no effect
- no effect
- negative
124 papers more in this group
See all 128 papers →iron(2+) sulfate (anhydrous) · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
21 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction
- no effect
- positive
- positive
19 papers more in this group
See all 23 papers →zinc sulfate · soil: biology · Zea mays (maize)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- positive
zinc sulfate · quality: phytochemicals · Zea mays (maize)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- positive
zinc sulfate · physiology: photosynthesis · Zea mays (maize)Results agree
3 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
drought · physiology: photosynthesis · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
107 papers in the same direction as this paper · 13 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
117 papers more in this group
See all 121 papers →application · yield · Zea mays (maize)Positive and negative results
574 papers in the same direction as this paper · 42 in the opposite direction · 12 reporting no difference from an alternative
- no effect
- no effect
- negative
625 papers more in this group
See all 629 papers →application · soil: biology · Zea mays (maize)Results agree
11 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
8 papers more in this group
See all 12 papers →8 of 9 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.