Impact of acidified carbon on maize growth, yield and grains nutrients concentration under normal irrigation and osmotic stress

Osmotic stress is a major hurdle to the optimization of maize productivity. Limited availability of what the decrease the maize productivity due to alteration in metabolic activities. It also decreases the uptake of essential nutrients in the plants which resulted in limited photosynthetic activities. Such conditions resulted in poor plant growth and productivity. To overcome this critical issue, most scientists suggest incorporating organic amendments in the soil. These days incorporation of acidified carbon (AC) is becoming popular for the alleviation of abiotic stresses in crops. It can not only improve soil physicochemical properties but also increases the bioavailability of nutrients to plants. That's why the current study was conducted to explore the best application rate of AC for maize under osmotic stress. There were application rates of AC i.e., 0, 0.75, and 1.50% applied under 70, 50, and 30% field capacity (FC). Results showed that shoot (47.14 and 82.60%) and root length (32.19 and 69.76%), shoot fresh (102.40 and 135.22%) and dry weight (77.19 and 121.51%), root fresh (82.82 and 104.42%) and dry weight (59.17 and 80.30%) were significantly enhanced in maize by application of 0.75 and 1.50% AC under 30% FC. A significant decrease in the electrolyte leakage also validated the effectiveness of 0.75 and 1.50% AC for alleviation of osmotic stress in maize. In conclusion, 0.75 and 1.50% AC are effective in the improvement of maize growth and yield attributes in maize. More investigations are suggested at the field level to declare 1.50% AC as the best treatment for alleviation of osmotic stress.