CONTROLLING MAIZE

SEEDLING OVERGROWTH BY
PLANT GROWTH RETARDANT
DUONG MINH VUONG
CONTENT

PROGRESS OF
BACKGROUND
EXPERIMENTS

REVIEW PAPER
 BACKGROUND
• Direct-sowing in the field before the recommended planting period is nearly
impossible due to low temperature.
• Specialty corns in Korea is grown in plug trays and transplanted because:
• To plant early at late winter season (February) in plastic houses for earlier harvesting
(early June).
• To maximize field stand count (number of plants) and uniformity.
• To avoid bird damages at germination and early seedlings.
• Plug planting inside plastic house or growth chamber often results in
seedling overgrowth.
• Overgrowth: is a phenomenon occurs in plant when they are watered
and fertilized much more than they need, or plant are grown in lack of
light environment.
BACKGROUND

• Prohexadione-Calcium (Pro-Ca, prohexadione-Ca

or BX-112) is a plant growth retardant which is
used to inhibit gibberellin biosynthesis of plants.
It generally reduces shoot elongation in plants.
• Prohexadione-Ca is a plant bioregulator that is
primarily used to inhibit excessive vegetative
growth in fruit trees and other crop plants.
• Additionally, effects on the incidence of bacterial
and fungal diseases and on insect pests are often
observed.
• Furthermore, the compound may reduce abortion
of fruitlets, thereby increasing fruit set.
Prohexadione-Ca is relatively short-lived and
possesses very favorable toxicological and
ecotoxicological features.
 PROGRESS OF EXPERIMENTS
1. Part 2 of the first experiment
a. Objective
• To examine the effect of maize seedling growth suppression by growth
regulator
• To find the right concentration and the application timing
b. Material
- Cultivar: Super sweet corn: 3511R
- Chemical of plant growth retardant (PGR): Prohexadione-Calcium
PROGRESS OF EXPERIMENTS

iii. Method and treatment Table. Volume of solution and dose of chemicals of 3rd experiment (part 2)

• Method: Treatment Application

Prohexandione Distilled Volume of
ppm
-Calcium (mL) water (mL) solution (mL)
- Using 40-miniport tray B4 21% 0.378 49.6220 50 15,120,000
B5 19% 0.342 49.6580 50 13,680,000
- Plant 5 seedlings for each B6 17% 0.306 49.6940 50 12,240,000
treatment B7 15% 0.27 49.7300 50 10,800,000
B8 13% 0.234 49.7660 50 9,360,000
• Treatments: 15 B9 11% 0.198 49.8020 50 7,920,000
treatments (21%; 19%; B10 9% 0.162 49.8380 50 6,480,000
17%; 15%; 13%; 11%; B11 7% 0.126 49.8740 50 5,040,000
B12 5% 0.09 49.9100 50 3,600,000
9%; 7%; 5%; 3%; 1%;
B13 3% 0.054 49.9460 50 2,160,000
0.8%; 0.6%; 0.4%; 0.2%) B14 1% 0.018 49.9820 50 720,000
and Control (no B15 0.80% 0.0144 49.9856 50 576,000
treatment) B16 0.60% 0.0108 49.9892 50 432,000
B17 0.40% 0.0072 49.9928 50 288,000
B18 0.20% 0.0036 49.9964 50 144,000
Control 0% 0 50.0000 50 0
PROGRESS OF EXPERIMENTS

RESULTS
4 Days after treatment (DAT)

Prohexadione-Calcium

5cm

Control 21% 19% 17% 15%

(15,120,000 ppm) (13,680,000 ppm) (12,240,000 ppm) (10,800,000 ppm)

13% 11% 9% 7%
(9,360,000 ppm) (7,920,000 ppm) (6,480,000 ppm) (5,040,000 ppm)
4 Days after treatment (DAT)

Prohexadione-Calcium

5cm

Control 5% 3% 1%
(3,600,000 ppm) (2,160,000 ppm) (720,000 ppm)

0.8% 0.6% 0.4% 0.2%

(576,000 ppm) (432,000 ppm) (288,000 ppm) (144,000 ppm)
6 Days after treatment (DAT)
Prohexadione-Calcium

5cm

Control 21% 19% 17% 15%

(15,120,000 ppm) (13,680,000 ppm) (12,240,000 ppm) (10,800,000 ppm)

13% 11% 9% 7%
(9,360,000 ppm) (7,920,000 ppm) (6,480,000 ppm) (5,040,000 ppm)
6 Days after treatment (DAT)

Prohexadione-Calcium

5cm

Control 5% 3% 1%
(3,600,000 ppm) (2,160,000 ppm) (720,000 ppm)

0.8% 0.6% 0.4% 0.2%

(576,000 ppm) (432,000 ppm) (288,000 ppm) (144,000 ppm)
8 Days after treatment (DAT)

Prohexadione-Calcium

5cm
Control 21% 19% 17% 15%
(15,120,000 ppm) (13,680,000 ppm) (12,240,000 ppm) (10,800,000 ppm)

13% 11% 9% 7%
(9,360,000 ppm) (7,920,000 ppm) (6,480,000 ppm) (5,040,000 ppm)
8 Days after treatment (DAT)

Prohexadione-Calcium

5cm
Control 5% 3% 1%
(3,600,000 ppm) (2,160,000 ppm) (720,000 ppm)

0.8% 0.6% 0.4% 0.2%

(576,000 ppm) (432,000 ppm) (288,000 ppm) (144,000 ppm)
REVIEW PAPER
REVIEW PAPER
a. Material and method
• A field experiment with complete randomized block design was
designed and carried out to investigate the effects of Pro-Ca on growth
and the levels of endogenous GAs in rice shoots.
• There were four treatment levels of Pro-Ca application and control,
flowering time (FT), 5 days before flowering (5 DBF), 10 DBF and
three replications per treatment.
• The experimental plot size for each replication was 24 m².
• The seeds Ilpumbyeo rice cultivar was used
• The fertilizer applied were N in the form of urea (110 kg ha ⁻¹),
phosphorus in the form of P₂O₅ (45 kg ha ⁻¹) and potassium in the form
of K₂O (57 kg ha⁻¹).
• The Pro-Ca was applied at the rates of 10 and 20 ppm respectively.
REVIEW PAPER

b. Extraction and quantification of endogenous gibberellins

• After methanolic extraction, GAs were purified using a combination of
preparatory column chromatography, solvent partitioning, and reverse-phase
HPLC. Deuterated (25 ng each of [17,17-²H₂]GA₁, -GA₈, -GA₁₉, -GA₂₀, -
GA₄₄, and -GA₅₃, and 20 ng of [17,17-²H₂]GA₁₂) internal standards were
added.
• Tritiated (1500 Bq each of [1,2-³H₂]GA₁ and [1,2-³H₂]GA₄) standards were
also added to the combined extract to monitor recovery through the
purification procedure.
• GAs were quantified using GC-MS selected ion monitoring by calculating the
area ratio of endogenous GA to the deuterated standard GA that had been
added during the extraction step, and the contribution from the deuterated
standard to the nondeuterated GA was corrected
• Data are given on a content or level basis. Rhythmic patterns of GA levels,
expressed as nanograms per plant, were similar to those expressed as
nanograms per gram dry weight; data on a per-plant basis are not given.
REVIEW PAPER

c. Field environmental conditions

• The environmental conditions were recorded on different dates to get
better understanding of the field conditions (see Table 2).
REVIEW PAPER

d. Growth and yield parameters

• The stem length, third internode length, panicle length, fresh weight,
lodging index and stem breaking strength were measured at the time of
crop harvest.
• The yield parameters studied include number of grains per panicle,
number of panicles m⁻², ripened grain ratio, 1000 grain weight and
milled rice yield.
• The lodging index was calculated through formula,
REVIEW PAPER
e. Results
• Effect of Pro-Ca on growth and lodging of rice
- The stem length, third internode length, panicle length, fresh weight and lodging index, reduced with the
application of Pro-Ca.
- In Pro-Ca applied treatments, the stem breaking strength was insignificantly higher than control treatments.
The stem breaking strength increased with higher Pro-Ca concentration and its earlier application.
• Effect of Pro-Ca on yield of rice
- The rice yield parameters were also affected by the doses and timings of Pro-Ca
application.
- The milled rice yield, 1000 grain weight and ripened grain ratio increased
significantly while a pronounced reduction in panicles m⁻² was recorded.
- The number of grains per panicle increased insignificantly with the application of
Pro-Ca (Table 5).
REVIEW PAPER

Effect of Pro-Ca on endogenous gibberellins of rice

- The levels of all
endogenous GAs were
markedly higher in
samples taken after 10
days of Pro-Ca treatment
than those taken 20 days
after the treatment.
- The GA1 and GA8
contents were much
reduced with 20 ppm
than 10 ppm of Pro-Ca
application (Fig. 1).
REVIEW PAPER
f. Summarize
• The 20 ppm concentration of Prohexadione-Calcium was more
effective in reducing the agricultural traits than 10 ppm, and at the
same concentration, the chemical showed the effect in increasing the
yield parameters.
• Besides, the chemical at 20ppm concentration affected to decrease
GA₁ and GA₈ contents in rice.