Response of Some Maize Hybrids to Foliar Application of Silicon Under Soil Affected by Salinity

Abstract
Two field experiments were carried out at the Experimental Farm of Faculty of Agriculture (Saba Basha), Alexandria University, Egypt, during two successive summer seasons of 2019 and 2020, to study the response of four maize hybrids to foliar application of silicon (Si) under salinity conditions. This experiment was laid out in a split-plot design in three replications. Where, the main plots were allocated by maize hybrids (SC 2066, SC 2055, SC 3062, and TWC 352), while the subplots were occupied by foliar application of Si concentrations (spray water, 100, 150, and 200 mg/l). The results showed that the four maize hybrids differed in all the studied characters i.e. plant height at harvest, ear length (cm), number of rows/ear, number of grains/row, number of grains/ear, 100- grain weight (g), biological yield, grain yield (t/ha), straw yield (t/ha), and harvest index (%), where TWC352 recorded the highest values of these traits. Increasing Si rates from 0 to 200 mg/l increased all the studied parameters in both seasons. The interaction was significant in all characters, whereas sowing SC3062 hybrid with foliar application of the higher concentration 200 mg/l of Si achieved the highest mean values of yield and yield components under the soil as affected by salinity in both seasons..