Abstract

ZERMENO-GONZALEZ, Alejandro et al. Biological fertilization of maize. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2015, vol.6, n.spe12, pp.2399-2408. ISSN 2007-0934.

By the growing demand for agricultural products and increased costs of chemical fertilizers, associated to pollution that this may cause to the environment, it is necessary to develop other sustainable alternatives for agricultural production. Biofertilización could mitigate these problems, and in turn increase crop yields. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the application of biological fertilizers derived from seaweed applied to the soil and foliage on forage maize (Zea mays L.). The response variables were: relative chlorophyll content, electron transport rate, plant height, stem diameter and dry weight of the plant. The research was conducted during the summer-fall cycle 2011 in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico. Two treatments were evaluated. With and without biological fertilizers; the fertilizers derived from seaweed extracts were: 1 L ha-1 compound AlgaenzimsMR and 0.5 L ha-1 AlZincBMR. The experimental design was completely random. Each treatment was replicated 10 times. Plants receiving biological fertilization showed higher values (p≤ 0.05) for relative chlorophyll content (32.4%) and electron transport rate (17.8%), which resulted in an increase (p≤ 0.05) in plant height ( 17.3%), stem diameter (10.5%) and plant dry weight (14.8%) compared to plants without application of biological fertilizers.

Keywords : Zea mays L.; chlorophyll content; electron transport rate; seaweed.