The effect of soil texture and nutrient solution "Unigreen" on the nutritional status of maize plant ( Zea mays L .)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted from march 19th to April , 20th , 2008 in order to study the influence of soil texture (sandy or clay) and 3 concentrations of the nutrient solution "Unigreen" (i.e 0.5 , 1.0 , and 2.0) ml/l on the nutritional status of maize plant . A completely randomized design (C. R. D.) with 3 replicates and means were compared using (L . S . D .) at 0.05 probability level . Results could be summarized as follow : 1- Nitrogen and phosphorus concs . were markedly increased in roots and shoots of plants grown in sandy soil . On the other hand , K conc . and the content in the shoot as well as its rates of transport and absorption were significantly higher in plants grown in a clay soil .2- The highest nutrient solution conc. gave a pronounced increase of N conc. in roots and shoots as well as its rate of transport . 3- The interaction between the soil texture and the nutrient solution significantly affected the nutritional status . Higher rate of transport of N was obtained from plants grown in the clay soil and 2 ml/l of the nutrient solution . The same trend was occurred with K rates of transport and absorption . The highest conc. of K in the shoots was associated with plants grown in the clay soil treated with 1 ml/l nutrient solution . Higher concs. and content of P in the shoots were obtained from plants grown in the sandy soil treated with 2 ml/l nutrient solution