Effect of adding biofertilizer, fulvic acid and spraying with silicon on the growth and yield of corn Zea mays L

• Saif Salah Al-Madhee and Waleed F. Hassan

  Author

A field experiment was conducted in the Kufa region of Najaf province  during the autumn season of 2025 on a sandy loam soil to study the effect of adding biofertilizer, fulvic acid, and silicon spray on some   growth and yield characteristics of corn (Zea mays L).A factorial experiment was used, and the treatments were distributed according to a randomized complete block design (RCBD). The three factors included: the first factor was the addition of biofertilizer at two concentrations (no addition and addition), designated as (B₀ and B₁); the second factor was the addition of fulvic acid at three concentrations (0, 8, and 16 L ha⁻¹), designated as (F₀, F₁, and F₂); and the third factor was silicon spraying at three Concentrations (0, 0.4, and 0.8 L ha⁻¹), designated as (S₀, S₁, and S₂). The results showed the following:The treatment with biofertilizer significantly excelled on without biofertilizer treatment in plant height, leaf area, chlorophyll content, dry matter yield, number of rows per cob, number of grains per row, grain yield, and biological yield, with increases of 5.64%, 8.45%, 6.61%, 36.10%, 19.45%, 14.98%, 12.95%, and 25.04%, respectively.The results showed that adding fulvic acid at a concentration of 16 L ha⁻¹ significantly affected most growth and yield traits, with increases of 9.09%, 8.23%, 11.90%, 41.50%, 30.54%, 15.89%, 19.32%, and 40.50% for plant height, leaf area, chlorophyll content, dry matter yield, number of rows per ear, number of grains per row, grain yield, and biological yield, respectively.The results showed that spraying with silica at a Concentration of 0.8 L ha⁻¹ significantly affected most growth and yield traits.The interaction between biofertilizer, fulvic acid, and silica spray significantly affected most of the studied plant traits. The treatment (B2F2S2) achieved the best values ​​for most growth and yield traits of corn under the conditions of the study area.

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