Citric Acid Foliar Application Impact on Growth and Yield Parameters of Maize (Zea Mays) Under Drought Stress Conditions

This experimental investigation was carried out on maize Giza 10 (Zea mays) during the course of two consecutive seasons, 2022 and 2023. By spraying applications with varying concentrations of citric acid (0, 100, 200, 300, and 400 ppm) via drip irrigation system, this study sought to improve maize growth and yield under various levels of drought stress (100, 75, and 50% of evapotranspiration ETc) to save irrigation water due to its scarcity at the moment. These treatments reflected conditions achieved as optimal water stress, moderate level of water supply, and severe level of water supply, respectively. In the Belbeis district of the El Sharkia Governorate of Egypt, maize plants are grown in sandy loam soil under water stress. The data demonstrated that the highest values for most of parameters was always for a water supply level of 100% ETc and that when citric acid was used, the best results were in favor of 300 and 400 ppm without any statistical differences between the two concentrations. As for the interaction between the two factors, we find that the highest results were in favor of the interaction between the irrigation level of 100% ETc with spraying at 400 ppm, but we recommend using 300 ppm of citric acid with a water supply level of 75% ETc because it led to increased corn growth and increased its productivity higher than the comparison treatment, which may save 25% of irrigation water while achieving a higher yield and quality than the control treatment.