Paper
Effect of Different Natural Potassium Fertilizer Rates and Microbial Inoculants as well as Foliar Spray of Calcium on Growth and Yield of Strawberry Plants Grown under Organic Fertilizer Systems
Published 2017 · H. Hassan
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Abstract
Two field experiments were conducted during the two successive winter seasons of 20122013 and 20132014 at sandy soil in a private sector farm at El-Dair village, Qalubia Governorate, Egypt, to investigate the effect of natural potassium fertilizer rates (75, 100 and 125% of the recommended dose of K2O/fed) with or without Microbial inoculants (mixture of nitrogen fixing bacteria" Azotobacter sp", phosphate dissolving bacteria "Bacillus megaterium" and potassium dissolving bacteria "Bacillus circulans) were added as soil drench and foliar spray with Nutriplant supreme Ca O and Global chelated calcium at 1g / l., apply every week with a total of 10 application times during the growing season starting 21days after transplanting were used in a combination of 18 treatments to study their effect on the vegetative growth, chemical constituents of plant foliage, fruit yield and quality of strawberry plants cv. Sweet Charlie. A split plot design with three replicates was used where different natural potassium fertilizer rates and Microbial inoculants were arranged in the main plots and foliar spray for calcium treatments were arranged in sub plots. Results show that using different rates of the recommended dose of K natural potassium fertilizer and Microbial inoculants significantly affected most of plant growth characters expressed as plant height , number of leaves/ plant , crown diameter, leaf area, dry weight / plant, chemical composition (N, P and K) of plant foliage, total fruit yield and its components, i.e., early fruit yield, exportable fruit yield, marketable fruit yield and total fruit yield and physical quality as well as average length, diameter, weight and firmness of fruits and chemical constituents of fruit, i.e., TSS%, vitamin C, titratable acidity, anthocyanins and total sugars. It was clearly evident that all treatments that received 125% of the recommended dose of natural potassium fertilizer with Microbial inoculants or natural potassium fertilizer without Microbial inoculants recorded higher values in all studied measured plant and fruit traits, as compared with 75% recommended dose of natural potassium fertilizer without Microbial inoculants. Results indicated that foliar calcium application, i.e., Nutriplant supreme CaO and Global chelated calcium increased plant growth characters, chemical composition, total fruit yield and its components, physical quality and chemical constituents of fruit, i.e., TSS%, vitamin C, titratable acidity, anthocyanins and total sugars. Nutriplant Supreme CaO recorded higher values in all studied measured plant and fruit traits, as compared with spray water. No significant differences were observed among foliar spray calcium treatments in number of plant length, number of leaves/plant and dry weight during the two year of study. Obtained results show that soil addition of 125% of the recommended dose of K natural potassium fertilizer rates and Microbial inoculants to strawberry plants combined with spraying the plants with calcium application, i.e., Nutriplant supreme CaO and Global chelated calcium to increase the vegetative growth, early maturing and total fruit yield. natural potassium fertilizer at a rate of 125% of the recommended dose of K and Microbial inoculants combined with spraying the plants with Nutriplant supreme CaO gave the highest values of plant growth characters, chemical composition, total fruit yield and its components, physical quality and chemical constituents of fruit, i.e., TSS%, vitamin C, titratable acidity, anthocyanins and total sugars comparing with the control treatment (spraying water) applications for the different natural potassium fertilizer rates.
125% of recommended potassium fertilizer and Microbial inoculants combined with foliar calcium application significantly improve strawberry plant growth, fruit yield, and fruit quality compared to control treatments.
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