UNSOED Conferences, The 3rd International Conference On Sustainable Agriculture For Rural Development (3rd ICSARD)

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Physiological Aspects of the Growth of Sweet and Regular Corns to Air Salinity conditions on Coastal Area
Saparso Saparso, Arief Sudarmaji, Muhammad Bachtiar Musthafa

Last modified: 2023-02-16

Abstract


The air salinity in coastal area may contribute significant effects to the growth of plants. Physiological aspects of the growth of plants are important information to give optimal treatments during cultivation process. One potential plant cultivated on coastal area is corns. This study aimed to describe the physiological response of sweet and regular corns to certain air salinity condition during cultivation on coastal area, and to determine their salinity tolerance index. The research was conducted in a screen house at the experimental farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Jenderal Soedirman University, from July to November 2021. The study was conducted using method of completely randomized design with two treatment factors, they are type of plants (sweet corn Bonanza 9-F1 and regular corn Bisi-18) and air salinity levels (0 mS, 6 mS, 12 mS, and 18 mS). The research results were analysed using the F-Test and Duncan's Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at the 5% level. The observed variables were plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, root length, fresh root weight, root dry weight, stem fresh weight, dry stem weight, fresh leaf weight, dry leaf weight, prior vegetative and end generative chlorophyll contents, proline content, number of stomata, stomata opening, fresh weight of corn cob, dry weight of corn cob, seed fresh weight, dry seed weight, and number of seeds. The results of the research showed that the tolerance index of regular corn (Bisi-18) was higher than Bonanza 9-F1, which showing better physiology aspects of generative chlorophyll content and proline content. 6 mS air salinity treatment reduced chlorophyll content at the end of vegetative and generative, leaf area, fresh and dry weight of seeds, and the number of corn seeds. The 18 mS air salinity treatment showed the highest proline content and decreased at 12 mS and 6 mS treatments. The interaction of treatments on proline content, stem fresh weight, and chlorophyll content showed that sweet corn plants with 18 mS air salinity treatment showed the highest yields. The tolerance level of regular corn (Bisi-18) showed that the plant was still tolerant at 18 mS salinity. In comparison, sweet corn (Bonanza 9-F1) showed intolerant results at 6 mS air salinity.