Utilization of Marginal Soils with Application of Phosphorus and Ethephon for Sweet Corn (Zea mays L. saccharata) cultivation
Abstract
Abundance of marginal soils is among the major constraint to achieve high yield for crop production due to unsuitable physical and chemical properties of the soils. Commonly, farmers would manage the marginal soil by adding soil amendment , compost and fertilizer which increase the cost of production. Alternatively, application of fertilizer together with plant growth regulator (PGR) during crop management can be practiced to utilize the marginal soil effectively . The aim of this experiment was to determine effects of phosphorus (P) fertilizer and PGR namely ethephon on growth performance of sweet corn grown in three marginal soils namely Rasau, Kuah and Dampar . The treatments were arranged as factorial randomized complete block design with four rates of P fertilizer and standard rate of ethephon replicated four times. The results indicated that the physical properties of the marginal soils vary which Rasau dan Kuah series have low content of silt (10.30% and 36.10%) , respectively and clay (9.40% and 11.86%) while Dampar series has low sand content (21%) . Consequently, Dampar series depicted highest soil moisture content (18.80%) compared to Rasau and Kuah with high content of silt and clay at 42.43% and 36.43% , respectively . At tasseling stage, where application of P fertilizer with combination of ethephon at 0 and 15 kg P2O5 ha-1 there were significant difference between soil series on root length, total biomass wet and dry weight but exception for total biomass dry weight at 0 kg P 2O5 ha-1. Moreover, a t 45 kg P2O5 ha-1 there were significant difference among soil series on leaf number and total biomass dry weight whereas at highest P rate of 60 kg P2O5 ha-1 only root length and root volume were affected. Most of the results were observed highest on Rasau soil series which contain highest sand particle instead of silt and clay compared to Kuah and Dampar series . However, the addition of ethephon and several P rates did not affect plant height among soil series. The results suggest that , the marginal soil can be utilized for sweet corn production by addition of combined P fertilizer at low rate and PGR .
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Introduction
Marginal soil for agriculture is characterized by soil which is poor in soil physical and chemical properties. These aspects play an important role for crop production in terms of growth performance and yield. The soil properties of each soil type may varies due to several factors such as parent material, topography, climate and agricultural practices. According to Shamsuddin and Markus (20 08), most of the Malaysian soils are known as Oxisols, acidic in nature and developed from a range of parent materials which are dominated by kaolinite and oxides of iron (Fe) and aluminium (Al) (sesquioxides). The availability of Al and Fe in most acid soils would fixed soluble inorganic phosphorus (P) that subsequently affect availability of P for plant growth (Adnan etal. , 2003). Yang etal. (2014) stated that P is an element essential for plant growth, fruit set, fruit development and fruit ripening and can be deficient or unavailable in agricultural soils.
As alternative, application of P fertilizers could overcome the problem so that the marginal soils can be used for cultivation and better yield production can be achieved . Furthermore, crop responses to fertilizer application are indirectly affected by soil physico-chemical properties where different soil texture will have di verse capability to hold plant nutrient. Application of P fertilizer in clay loam soil texture significantly increased dry matter yield, yield components and growth parameters of common bean (Taruko and Mohammed, 2014) whereas Wulan and Prijono (2013) in their study of different dry-land types concluded that factors influencing water infiltration are soil type, soil organic matter, porosity, bulk density, specific gravity and initial soil moisture content. Indeed, the proportion of sand, silt and clay in soil is so vital to the suitability of the soil for agriculture production in terms of water infiltration, soil moisture and nutrient retention.
Plant growth regulator namely ethephon (2-chloroethyl-phosphonic acid) is a systemic plant growth regulator that can be use directly e ither by soil drenching or foliar application to the plant. It will penetrate into plant tissue and decompose to ethylene, chloride ion and phosphonic acid (Bhat etal., 2010). At present, ethepon is widely used for specific function such as to hasten fruit ripening, stimulate flowering emergence and improve plant resistant to lodging. Ethephon treatment resulted in a significant reduction of corn plant height which was attributed to decrease in internode length (Mischeck and Fanuel, 2014). Moreover, ethephon will breakdown to release ethylene that will be involved to enhance root growth in soil with low nutrient concentration such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (Postma and Lynch, 2011).
In order to utilize the marginal soils for crop production , proper crop and nutrient management should be adjusted according to the soil condition so that plant requirement will be sufficient to complete their cycle. Consequently, combined application of P fertilizer and ethephon to marginal soil would be a promising approach to improve crop growth performance. Therefore, the combined effect of ethephon and several rates of P application on growth performances of sweet corn ( Zea mays L. saccharata ) grown in three marginal soils were investigated.
Conclusion
The soil color of Kuah and Dampar were recorded as brown and dark yellowish brown for Kuah indicated these soils were less in organic matter with carbon content range from 0.06-0.08%. The results depicted that the marginal soil namely Rasau soil series has poorer soil texture as compared with Kuah and Dampar but with application of P fertilizer at low rates and ethephon , number of leaves and roots performances were improved for sweet corn . The growth performance of sweet corn were significant in term of number of leaves, root length and root volume including total bio mass weight wet and dry but no effect of ethephon was recorded on plant height. As conclusion, in order to improve the potential of these three marginal soils for plant and root growth, application of P fertilizer with ethephon as low as 15 kg P 2O5 ha-1 up to 45 kg P 2O5 ha-1 for sweet corn is certainly an important aspect to consider.
