Mitigation of the Salinity Influences on Maize (Zea mays L.) Productivity by Exogenous Applications of Glycine Betaine

摘要

A fieldexperiment was carried out to estimate the advantageous efficiency ofthe foliar application of glycine betaine (GB) (10mM) on salt-stressedmaize ( Zea mays L.) plants.Salinity treatments (50 and 100 mM) were conducted using sodiumchloride (NaCl). The results showed that the increase in salinity levels led to adecrease in the maize shoot growth criteria (the leaves number perplant, leaf area index, shoot dry weight, plant height and ear height)and yield components (the ear diameter, ear length, kernels number perear, seed weight per ear and the 100 seed weight). This effect wasobvious with the 100 mM NaCl treatment for all measured parameters. Onthe other hand, the exogenous application of glycine betaine seemed tomitigate the negative effects of salt stress on the growth criteria andproductivity of maize plants. So, it can be concluded that maize plantsare not salt-tolerant, and the foliar application of GB might be usefulas a possible growth regulator to ameliorate the growth andproductivity of maize plants under salinity conditions.