Evaluating the Synergistic Effects of Foliar Boron and Magnesium Application for Mitigating Drought in Wheat

Abstract

The grain yield of wheat is primarily limited by drought. To increase the level of productivity under these conditions, a pot experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of foliar fertilizer with boron and magnesium under drought at either tillering or anthesis stages on some physiological parameters and yield components of two varieties of durum wheat. Foliar application with combined boron and magnesium significantly improved the transpiration rate, relative water content, and total chlorophyll content. Foliar application with combined boron and magnesium significantly increased the grain weight of wheat varieties at tillering and anthesis drought by 25% and 36%, respectively. Our findings showed the significance of foliar application at anthesis drought rather than at tillering for improvement of grain yield.

Keywords

• macronutrient
• relative water content
• tillering drought
• yield component