Effects of Foliar Fertilizer Applications on Leaf Area, Chlorophyll and Nutritional Content at Different Growth Stages of Soybean

Abstract

Plants need all plant nutrition elements to be available and adequate level in soil for optimum growth and yield production. The uptake of macro and micro nutrients by plants is limited or they can not be beneficial for plants in calcareous soils with high pH such as being in Mediterranean Region. In such situations, management strategies such as foliar spray can be useful to benefit of plants from them particularly under soil-limed condition with restricted micronutrients uptake. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the effects of foliar-applied zinc and iron on chlorophyll content, leaf area index (LAI) and chemical composition of soybean (Glycine max L.) at different growth stages. Field experiments were conducted over during the second crop seasons of the years 2018 and 2019 under the conditions of Hatay Province. The experiment was designed as split-split plot design with three replications. Varieties (Arısoy, Bravo, Nazlıcan) were placed in main plots, growth stages (V3, R1, R3) in sub-plots and foliar fertilizers (control, zinc, iron, zinc + iron) in sub-sub-plots. Foliar application of iron and zinc increased chlorophyll content and LAI values at different stages of growth in contrast to control (untreated) groups. The highest SPAD value (36.03) was obtained from Nazlıcan x R3 x Zn + Fe treatment and the highest LAI (7.57) was obtained from Bravo x V3 x Fe treatment. Generally, the higher results of SPAD value were observed in reproductive stages while the higher results of LAI were observed in vegetative stages. Leaf zinc and iron accumulations were higher in reproductive stages. As a result of this study, it was observed that micro nutrients needed by soybean plant can be supplied with foliar applications in calcareous soils.