Effect of Copper Chelate Foliar Application on Yield and Yield Components of Four Barley (Hordeum vulgare) Cultivar

Subject Areas : Journal of Crop Ecophysiology

A. Godrati Azadi ¹ ( Former Ms.c. Student of Agroecology, Faculty of Agriculture, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran )
R. Sadrabadi Haghighi ² ( Associate Prof., Faculty of Agriculture, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran )
K. Bakhsh Kelarestaghi ³ ( Assistant Prof., Faculty of Agriculture, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran )

Received: 2013-05-21 Accepted : 2013-12-25 Published : 2013-11-22

Keywords: Foliar application, Heading stage, Booting stage, Copper chelate,

Abstract :

To evaluate the effect of foliar application of copper on yield and yield components of four barley cultivar a factorial experiments with two factors was conducted in randomized complete block design with three replications in 2011 - 2012. The first factor was four barley cultivars (Fisasih, Yousof, Reyhan and Cb17) and the second factor consisted of foliar application of copper chelate in three levels (non, one time at booting stage and two times at both booting and heading stages). Results showed that there were differences among number of fertile tillers, number of seed per spike and seed weight of cultivars. Although yields of cultivars did not differ significantly, one or two times of foliar applications of copper increased biological and seed yield. Seed yield increased mainly as a result of increase in thousand seed weight, number of fertile tillers per unit area and the number of seeds per spike. Mean while harvest index was not affected by foliar application. In general, it seems due to essential of elemental copper on plant physiology, particularly in a copper sensitive plant like barley application of copper-containing compounds may enhance plant growth.