Effect of application of sulfur and thiobacillus on improvement of morpho-physiological characteristics of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in Khuzestan lands

In order to investigate the effect of acid modifiers in lands with high pH on improving morpho-physiological characteristics of wheat, a factorial experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The factors included, sulfur sulfate in three levels (0, 250 and 500 kg ha-1) and thiobacillus in three levels (0, 5 and 10 kg ha-1). The results showed that the effect of sulfur fertilizer and thiobacillus bacteria on total dry weight, leaf area index, crop growth rate, net assimilation  rate and plant height were significant at 1% probability level. The interaction between sulfur and thiobacillus fertilizers on total dry weight was significant at 1% probability level and on plant height at 5% probability level and was not significant for other traits. The maximum crop growth rate were obtained by 12.5 and 11.6 g m-2 under 500 kg ha-1 sulfur fertilizer and 10 kg ha-1 thiobacillus, respectively and the minimum by 9.7 and 10.6 were under non-application of sulfur fertilizer and non-application of thiobacillus. The maximum plant height (94.3 cm) was observed under application of 500 and 10 kg ha-1 of sulfur and thiobacillus fertilizer and the minimum by 74.6 was under non-application of sulfur fertilizer and thiobacillus. In general, the results of experiment showed that the application of sulfur fertilizer and thiobacillus bacteria in lands with high pH improved morpho-physiological characteristics of wheat, which could be interest to researchers and farmers.