RESPONSE OF THREE BEETROOT CULTIVARS TO ORGANIC FERTILIZATION AND FOLIAR APPLICATION

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted for autumn season 2021-2022 in the fields of the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Baghdad, Al-Jadriya Campus, Station A- To study the effect of cultivars (Red, Dark Red, and Cylindra), organic fertilizer, vermicompost, and cow manure, as well as control treatment (soil only), and spraying with silicon and calcium elements and distilled water (control) on the growth, yield, and quality of beetroot plant Within a completely randomized block design as a split plot experiment, where the cultivars were counted as the main factor, organic fertilizer, and foliar spray as the secondary factor, with three replicates, the number of treatments was 27, and the averages were compared according to the least significant difference L.S.D at the level of probability 5% for each cultivar, and the results were as follows:

There is a significant effect of the triple interaction between cultivars, culture medium and foliar spraying on the percentages of the elements N, P, K, and Ca as well as the concentration of Si in the leaves of the beetroot plant, as it was noted that the treatments V2×F1×S2, V2×F2×S2, and V3×F1×S2 gave them the highest percentage of nitrogen in leaves amounted to 3.50%,The triple interaction treatment V2×F1×S2 was significantly excelled in the percentage of phosphorus and potassium in the leaves by giving it (0.43%, 4.69%) respectively, while the treatment V2×F2×S2 was significantly excelled by giving it the highest percentage of calcium in the leaves, amounting to 2.17%.The results also indicated that the two treatments V2×F1×S2 and V3×F1×S2 were excelled in the concentration of silicon in the leaves by giving them 0.00739 ppm. the triple interaction treatment the cultivar Cylindra and Vermicompost medium with silicone spray V3×F1×S2 Significantly excelled gave it the highest leaf yield of 67.50 tons ha^-1, While the treatment V2×F1×S2 excelled in (root yield, percentage of total soluble solids, percentage of sugars and percentage of phenols) given (74.49 ton ha^-1, 11.66%, 948.7% and 0.18%), respectively.