Abstract
Water scarcity is an alarming issue in arid and semi arid regions of Pakistan, which
cause drought stress and reduced plant growth. A pot experiment was conducted to
study the effective role of Si for the growth of maize hybrids (FH-922, FH-949, FH-
988 and FH-1137) with brackish water application. The physical parameters like plant
height, shoot fresh weight, shoot dry weight; number of leaves per plant and chlorophyll
contents (SPAD Value) were recorded. The ionic parameters like sodium (Na),
potassium (K), silicon (Si) concentration and K: Na ratio were also recorded. The
results revealed a relatively different response of four maize hybrids among all the
studied parameters. Among all the variable maize hybrids, FH-988 showed the
considerable increase in plant height; shoot fresh and dry weight and leaf chlorophyll
contents. However, maize hybrids FH-922 and FH-1137 were more sensitive as
compared to FH-988 and FH-949 due to less production in dry matter, chlorophyll
contents, K concentration and K: Na ratio.
