Farhana Ilyas Khan1 and Tayyaba Fatima2
1 Department of Botany, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Punjab 38000, Pakistan
2 Department of Botany, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Punjab 38000, Pakistan
Original language: English
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Abstract
Ascorbic acid (AsA), an antioxidant form of vitamin C, helps the plants in photosynthesis as an enzyme’s cofactor. It also increases the rate at which plants grow, produce, and germinate. The main goal of this study was to find out how ascorbic acid affects the growth of maize (Zea mays L.) while applying on rooting medium. First, a trial experiment was performed to determine the most effective dose of AsA application for maize plants to adopt in the main experiments. A single variety of maize, Golden, was grown in sand under pot conditions. Hoagland’s nutrient solution was applied every week and four doses of AsA (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 mM) were applied in root medium of maize seedlings every three days for two weeks. Then, in the main experiment conducted at the Botanical Garden at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, two cultivars of maize i.e., Golden and Sadaf, were grown in the soil inside a wire house. The selected optimal dosage of vitamin C from trial experiment (1 mM) was applied to roots of maize plants for five weeks after every three days at seedling stage. Growth and physiological parameters were measured and statistically analyzed with the help of COSTAT software using analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique. When compared with the control plants, all plant parameters (root length, shoot length, leaf area, fresh and dry biomass, chlorophyll a and b content, soluble carbohydrates, osmotic potential, Potassium, Calcium, and Phosphorus content) were observed to be enhanced with AsA treatment. On the other hand, application of ascorbic acid decreased the sodium content of both roots and shoots of the treated plants. Moreover, genotype Sadaf demonstrated relatively better results in comparison to genotype Golden.
Author Keywords: Maize, ascorbic acid (AsA), vitamin C, root application, growth, physiological, statistical analysis.
