Plant Soil Environ., 2023, 69(12):586-595 | DOI: 10.17221/209/2023-PSE

Impact of seed coating with superabsorbent polymers on morphological, physiological and production traits of maize (Zea mays L.)Original Paper

Marek Rašovský ORCID...1, Vladimír Pačuta1, Ján Gažo1, Nika Briediková1, Dominika Lenická1, Beata Michalska-Klimczak2, Zdzislaw Wyszyňski2
1 Institute of Agronomical Sciences, Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Nitra, Slovak Republic
2 Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture and Biology, Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW, Warsaw, Poland

Due to ongoing climate change, the need for the application of adaptive strategies in agriculture is increasing, particularly in areas with insufficient rainfall, high temperatures and weather fluctuations during the vegetation period. Therefore, an experiment was conducted in 2020 and 2021 to determine the influence of superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) on morphological, physiological and production traits of maize. SAPs were applied using a method of seed coating, which is considered cost-effective and environmentally friendly. Due to the impact of SAPs, significantly larger weights of leaves and roots, as well as the length of roots in the initial growth stage, were found. Furthermore, the SAP treatment condition found significantly larger values of leaf relative water content and spectral indexes PRI (photochemical reflectance index) and NDVI (normalised difference vegetation index). Applying SAPs also led to a significant increase in spikes per plot and grain yield of maize. Moreover, the results significantly impact the interaction between year and treatment. The correlation analysis indicates a higher correlation between the observed traits in the SAPs treatment condition, which subsequently impacted the final maize production. These results confirm that applying SAPs can be considered a suitable strategy for mitigating the impacts of adverse weather conditions, especially in terms of sustainability and maintaining maize production.

Keywords: spectral indices; WinRhizo; adaptability; field conditions

Received: May 24, 2023; Revised: October 30, 2023; Accepted: October 31, 2023; Prepublished online: December 8, 2023; Published: December 20, 2023  Show citation

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Rašovský M, Pačuta V, Gažo J, Briediková N, Lenická D, Michalska-Klimczak B, Wyszyňski Z. Impact of seed coating with superabsorbent polymers on morphological, physiological and production traits of maize (Zea mays L.). Plant Soil Environ. 2023;69(12):586-595. doi: 10.17221/209/2023-PSE.
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