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IMPACT OF ZINC FERTILIZATION ON GAS EXCHANGE
CHARACTERISTICS AND WATER USE EFFICIENCY OF COTTON CROP UNDER ARID
ENVIRONMENT
NIAZ AHMED1*,
FIAZ AHMAD2, MUHAMMAD ABID1 AND MUHAMMAD AMAN ULLAH3
Abstract:
Gas exchange
characteristics play an important role in the growth and development of
cotton plants .Therefore, field experiments were conducted for
consecutive two years during 2004 and 2005 to study the effects of Zn
fertilization @ 0 (control), 5.0, 7.5, 10.0 and 12.5 kg Zn ha-1
on gas exchange characteristics of cotton cv. CIM-473. The soil of the
experimental site was alkaline in nature, moderately calcareous, silt
loam with low Zn (DTPA -extractable Zn, 0.5 mg kg-1 soil).
The net photosynthetic rate (PN), transpiration rate (E)
and stomatal conductance (gs) increased while
intercellular CO2 (Ci) decreased with the increasing
Zn levels during both years of study. The water use efficiency (PN
/E) was improved by 32% under the highest Zn dose compared to
control. There were positive correlations between Zn doses and PN
(0.98**), E (0.97**), gs (0.88**), WUE
(0.94**), while a negative correlation was observed with Ci
(-0.95**). The addition of Zn fertilizer caused beneficial influence on
cotton plant by enhancing its water use efficiency and gas exchange
parameters.
1University
College of Agriculture, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan
2Central
Cotton Research Institute, Multan, Pakistan-60500
3Department
of Statistics, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan.
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