The effect of Foliar Application‎ of Main elements and Micronutrients on Morpho-physiological and Yield traits of Three Native Rice Cultivars of Mazandaran Province

In order to investigate the effect of foliar application of main elements and micronutrients on morpho-physiological and yield traits of rice plants with the aim of increasing yield and reducing the use of chemical fertilizers, experiments in the cropping years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 in the research farms of Nowshahr city (Mazandaran) was implemented.

The experiment was performed as a factorial design in the form of a randomized complete block design with 3 ‎replications. Experimental treatments include four levels of fertilizer (control, ‎macronutrients (N, P, K), micronutrients (N, Fe, Mn, Zn), and macro + micro (N, P, K, Mg, Mn, ‎Fe, Cu) as foliar application in tillering, stalking and pregnancy stages), and rice cultivars ‎‎(Fajr, Amrollahi, Hashemi). The measured traits included flag leaf length and width, flag leaf area, flag leaf chlorophyll, number of tillers per plant, number of spikes per plant, grain yield, biological yield, harvest index, soluble carbohydrate, and grain protein.

The results showed that experimental treatments had a significant effect on all traits. The data analysis of variance results showed that experimental treatments had a significant effect on all traits. In addition, foliar application of fertilizers at different levels compared to the control had a significant effect. The highest grain yield (567.7 g/m2), biological yield (1400 g/m2), carbohydrate (44.48 mg/g dry weight), and grain protein (11.40%) were obtained in Fajr cultivar and d2 fertilizer treatment.

The results of this experiment showed that the method of foliar application of nutrients, in addition to reducing fertilizer losses, improves plant traits due to rapid leaf absorption.