Evaluation of the role of salicylic acid foliar application in reducing the effects of drought stress and improving growth and yield indices of forage maize

Babaeian, Mahdi; Kheirkhah, Mohammad; Ramazani, Ali

doi:10.22077/jdcr.2026.11351.1235

Evaluation of the role of salicylic acid foliar application in reducing the effects of drought stress and improving growth and yield indices of forage maize

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

mahdi babaeian ¹

Mohammad Kheirkhah ¹

Ali Ramazani ²

¹ Assistant Professor Department of Plant Production and Genetics, Shirvan Faculty of Agriculture, University of Bojnord, Bojnord, Iran

² Department of Plant Production and Genetics, Shirvan Faculty of Agriculture, University of Bojnord, Bojnord, Iran

10.22077/jdcr.2026.11351.1235

Abstract

Drought stress is one of the most important limiting factors in forage maize production in semi-arid regions. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of foliar application of salicylic acid on improving growth and yield of forage maize under drought stress conditions. The experiment was carried out during the 2019–2020 growing season in Faruj County as a split-plot design based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. The main factor included three irrigation levels (100, 75, and 60% of crop water requirement), and the sub-factor consisted of three levels of salicylic acid foliar application (no spraying, 0.50, and 0.75 mM).

The results showed that the interaction effect of irrigation and salicylic acid foliar application was significant at the 5% probability level for plant height, stem dry weight, plant dry weight, plant fresh weight, and ear fresh weight. In addition, stem diameter and leaf area index were significantly affected by the interaction of foliar application and different irrigation levels at the 1% probability level. The highest leaf area index (7.14) was obtained under full irrigation, and under severe drought stress, foliar application of 0.75 mM salicylic acid increased this trait by 44.28% and 22.14% compared with the control and 0.50 mM concentration, respectively. Under severe drought stress, stem diameter reached 18.48 mm with the application of 0.75 mM salicylic acid, showing a 27.27% increase compared with no spraying.

Keywords

Stress tolerance

Drought stress

Growth regulator

Leaf area index. Forage yield

Subjects