Effect of planting date, plant density and spraying with organic nutrients on growth and quantitative and qualitative yield for garlic plant (Allium sativum L)

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in one the fields belonging to the Directorate of Agriculture in Basra (Tomato Developing Project in Khor Al-Zubair) during the agricultural season (2015-2016) in order to study the effect of the dates and density of cultivating and spraying with seaweed extract (ALGIDEX) and the licorice root extract on the growth and yield of garlic (Allium sativum L.) and the cloves content of the elements of NP.PK.S., where the experiment included three-factor which are the interaction between three planting dates (10/25, 11/10, 25/11), two plant densities (1, 3 clove/pit), and spraying with five concentrations of organic nutrients are organic fertilizer (AlGIDEX and Ascophyllum nodosum) with two concentrations of (2, 4 ml.L-1) and licorice root extract with two concentrations (6, 8 g.L-1). In addition to the control treatment of (spraying with distilled water only), with the rate of four sprayings (two weeks between one spraying and another after completing the emergence of cultivated seedling with a month of cultivating for each date). The results showed that the second and third planting dates were significantly excelled in the leaf area (dm2), the percentage of potassium in the cloves, the weight of the head (g) and the cloves content of phosphorus, While the first planting date has excelled in the total number of heads (tons.h-1) and the percentage of nitrogen and sulfur in cloves. The cultivated plants with a density of (3 cloves/pit) were significantly excelled in leaf area (dm2), the total number of heads (ton.h-1) and the percentage of phosphorus and potassium in the cloves. The plants that were sprayed with licorice extract at a concentration of (8 g.L-1) are excelled in plant height, leafy area (dm2), the weight of the head (g), total head yield (tons.h-1), Percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur in cloves, the plants that sprayed with AlGIDEX extract at a concentration of (4 ml.L-1) are also significantly excelled in plant height. Bi-interactions and triple interactions showed significant superiority in most of the studied traits.