Role of silicon via fertirrigation in the nutritional status of maize grown in the field under water deficit

• Grant number: 23/00047-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2023
• End date: April 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Renato de Mello Prado
• Grantee: Pedro Lucas Campos Lanza
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Irrigated cultivation of annual crops such as corn has expanded in recent years at the same time as water restrictions due to climate change, which is why strategic research is essential to increase efficiency in the use of water with sustainability. For this, balanced plant nutrition can contribute to increasing water use efficiency, especially with the supply of silicon (Si) in fertirrigated crops. Thus, it is important to have answers to the following hypotheses: i) there is an optimal and economical dose of Si for fertigation and the levels of Si in the soil for its reasoned use ii) Si is a multistress element by mitigating damage caused by water deficit moderate and severe associated with stress in maize plants; iii) the optimal supply of Si via fertigation can reduce the water requirement while maintaining high productivity. Thus, the treatments will consist of a 3x4 factorial, three water regimes: 80% (no deficit), 60% (moderate water deficit) and 40% (severe water deficit) of the water retention capacity in the soil; four doses of Si supplied via fertirrigation: 0; 4; 8 and 12 kg ha-1. To test these hypotheses, experiments will be carried out with maize in order to establish doses of Si via fertigation in three water regimes in physiological and nutritional aspects to support a strategy for efficient use of water in an irrigated cropping system.