Variability of main nutrients in maize inbred lines caused by application of organic peroxides

Abstract

Exogenous application of chemical elicitors to plants can be successfully used to reduce damage caused by abiotic stresses and consequently to enhance productivity. Different organic peroxides, applied foliarly as DMSO solution, were used in this study with the aim to examine variations in grain yield and main nutrient status, i.e. protein, starch and oil contents, of four maize inbred lines. Results showed that two genotypes reacted positively on applied treatments, achieving higher grain yields than control group, with differences up to 2-3 t ha-1. In total, one of the applied peroxides expressed the highest impact on yield enhance. In terms of nutritive quality, the same treatment mostly increased the starch content. With regard to protein content, higher value was achieved by the same genotype which had higher grain yield, and for oil content, variations in results among treatments were insignificant and irregular. This indicates that synthetic elicitors, such as organic peroxides, could be used not only to increase grain yield, but also to modify grain nutritional quality in regard to genotype variability.