Effect of silicon and Nitrocara bio-fertilizer on morpho-physiological parameters of wheat under different irrigation regimes

In order to study the effect of silicon foliar application and Nitrocara biofertilizer on some morpho-physiological traits of wheat under different irrigation regimes, an experiment was conducted as a factorial split-plot, during two cropping years in research farm of Islamic Azad University, Zabol Branch, Iran. Experimental treatments included water stress (irrigation regimes after water depletion of 50, 75, and 90% of field capacity) in the main plots and silicon acid foliar application at three levels of 0, 1 and 1.5 mM and Nitrocara biofertilizer in two levels of inoculation and non-inoculation (one liter per hectare as seed) in subplots were assessed. The results showed that the non-inoculate seeds with Nitrocara under 50% irrigation regime and seed inoculation under 75% irrigation regime in the second year of the experiment resulted in the highest wheat grain yield with an average of 1901.5 and 1892.3 g/m2, respectively. The highest total biomass was related to the inoculation of seeds with Nitrocara along with the use of 1 mM silicon in the second year of the experiment under irrigation regime of 50% moisture depletion (8793.3 g/m2). In general, under low irrigation conditions, the use of Nitrocara biofertilizer as well as silicon foliar application led to improved physiological parameters and increased growth and yield indices of wheat in Sistan climatic conditions.