Nitrogen improves the recovery of maize plants under repeated drought stress

Abstract

Background

Modern high-yielding crops, such as maize, are characterized by extensive yield stability across various environments and can cope with repetitive periods of moderate water shortage. However, there is conflicting evidence on how the nutritional status of the plants contributes to stress resilience and whether farmers have management options via nitrogen fertilization. Aims

We aimed at identifying factors relevant for improved growth recovery of maize after repeated water deficit stress (WDS). Methods

A pot experiment with maize and repeated WDS was conducted. Growth and recovery from stress and physiological parameters were measured. Results

The growth penalty of juvenile maize plants exposed to a moderate WDS was lost after additional exposure to a 2-week WDS. Primed plants transiently contained more osmolytes and performed superior in the second recovery phase when nitrogen fertilization was applied directly before the second WDS. Nitrogen fertilization did not affect the osmolyte quantity, and primed plants had transiently higher antioxidant levels, higher reactive oxygen species production and recovered more quickly with N addition. Conclusions

Pot experiments suggest that nitrogen fertilization may be an option to improve maize resilience to repeated WDS, a hypothesis that should be tested more rigorously in the field.