1Department of Seed Science and Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641 003, Tamil Nadu, India
2Department of Seed Science and Technology, SRM College of Agricultural Sciences, Chennai-603 203, Tamil Nadu, India
3School of Social Sciences and Languages, Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai-603 203, Tamil Nadu, India
4Don Bosco Agriculture College, Arakkonam, Chennai-631 151, Tamil Nadu, India
5Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai-600 020, Tamil Nadu, India
*Corresponding Author: S. Ambika, Department of Seed Science and Technology, SRM College of Agricultural Sciences, Chennai-603 203, Tamil Nadu, India, Email: ambikasingaram@gmail.com
Online published on 20 February, 2026.
Drought stress is a significant challenge for maize production, causing significant harm to crop growth and yield. In this experiment two set of pot culture experiment was conducted with three replication to assess the effect of phytohormone foliar spray on maize COH(M) 8.
This experiment study was conducted at the Seed Science and Technology, TNAU in the summer season during 2022 and 2023, respectively. One set of potted plants were kept under ambient temperature (34±°C). Another set of potted plants were raised at elevated temperature of 42°C in the Open Top Chamber. The plants were sprayed with sodium nitroprusside (50 μM and 75 μM), brassinolides (0.2 ppm and 0.5 ppm) and salicylic acid (50 ppm and 75 ppm) at 40 and 47 days after sowing along with control.
Foliar spraying with sodium nitroprusside 50 μM and salicylic acid 75 ppm recorded higher plant height, early flowering, pollen viability, chlorophyll content and enzyme activities (catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase) compared to the control plants. As a result, these findings suggest that use of sodium nitroprusside 50 μM enhances plant defence mechanisms against heat stress in maize.
Abiotic stress, Enzymes, Heat stress, Maize, Phytohormones
