Alleviating the Adverse Effect of Salinity on Maize by the Ameliorative Effect of Salicylic Acid

TWO EXPERIMENTS in cemented plots were conducted during 2012 and 2013 summer seasons at Soil Salinity and Alkalinity Lab., Alexandria, Egypt, to study the effect of three levels of irrigation water salinity (0.5, 2.75, 5.5 dSm^-1) and spraying leaves with salicylic acid (0, 100, 200 ppm) on growth, grain yield, and the components of maize grain yield. Split plot with four replicates was the experimental design. The results revealed that at mid-season, irrigation with saline water significantly decreased plant height (cm), fresh weight of plant (g), and dry weight of plant (g). However, number of leaves/plant, leaves area/plant (m²) and leaf area index were not significantly affected. Also, at mid-season foliar spraying with salicylic acid significantly increased fresh weight of plant (g) and dry weight of plant (g). However, plant height (cm), number of leaves/plant, leaves area/plant (m²), and leaf area index were not significantly affected. At end-season irrigation with saline water significantly decreased ear height (cm), ear weight (g), number of grains/row, 100 kernel weight (g), grain yield (g/plot), biological yield (g/plot), straw yield (g/plot) and harvest index while number of rows/ear had not been affected significantly. Also, at end-season foliar application of salicylic acid significantly increased all the studied parameters except for ear height (cm), number of rows/ear and harvest index. The interaction between salinity and salicylic acid was not significant for all the studied parameters except for grain yield meaning that every factor is acting independently from each other. In conclusion, salicylic acid could be used as an antioxidants or potential growth regulator to improve maize growth and grain yield under salinity conditions.