EFFECT OF FOLIAR APPLICATION OF POTASSIUM ON GROWTH CHARACTERS AND NPK CONTENT OF POPCORN Zea mays Var. everta

A field experiment was conducted in one of gypsum soil private farm in Al-Dour district during autumn season 2019. The study aims to show the effect spray potassium concentration of 0, 2000, 4000, 6000 mg l-1 on growth characters and NPK percentage in popcorn plants var Noor. The experiment was applied by using RCBD with three replicates. The results showed that corn plants which sprayed with 6000 mg l-1 gave the highest significant values in plant height 148.06 cm , leave area 4396.3 cm2, leave area index 4.47, leaves number 14.4, plant dry weight 134 g, NAR 0.001789 g cm-2 day-1, CGR 0.002275 gm day-1 and percentage of K, N, and P of 3.591, 1.9, and 0.424% respectively. There was no significant different between 4000 and 6000 mg l-1 treatments in all studied characters. Therefore the spraying of 4000 mg l-1 was useful to improve growth characters and popcorn plant content of NPK.