EFFECT OF SOME FOLIAR APPLICATION TREATMENTS ON YIELD, QUALITY AND STORABILITY OF GARLIC

Abstract

The experiment was carried out during 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 seasons at Kaha Vegetable Research Farm, Kaliobia governorate, Horticultural Research Institute, Agricultural Research Centre. The experiment aimed to study the effect of two cultivars, i.e. Balady and Sids-40, as well as some foliar applications treatments, i.e. amino acids (250, 500 and 750 ppm), potassium humate (250, 500 and 750 ppm), seaweed extract (250, 500 and 750 ppm) and K2O (300, 600 and 900 ppm) in addition to the control. The experimental treatments were arranged in a split plot design, with three replicates. The foliar treatments were carried out as foliar spray at 6, 9 and 12 weeks after planting date to find out their influence onvegetative growth, chemical contents, yield and its components, bulb quality and storability. The results indicated that Sids-40 cultivar produced markedly higher values of leaf number, leaf area, bulb diameter, bulbing ratio, bulb fresh and dry weight, dry matter of leaves, bulbs and plants, as well as, cured yield, bulb and clove weight, also, carbohydrates, N, protein percentage of bulb and improved storability of bulbs than Balady cultivarHowever, Balady cultivar scored the higher values of plant length, K, total free amino acids (TFAA) in leaves, total weight loss percentduring curing, clove number, and bulb weight loss during storage. The results indicated that amino acids, seaweed extract andK2O applications increased plant length, leaf area, diameter of neck and bulb, fresh and dry weight of leaves, bulb and plant, bulb dry matter, while leaf number, dry matter of leaves and plant were not affected by applied treatments. The highest values of carbohydrates, nitrogen, C/N ratio, TFAA, protein contents in leaves resulted from using potassium humate at 750 ppm, seaweed extract at 500 ppm, amino acids at 500 ppm, seaweed extract at 250 and 500 ppm, respectively. As well as, seaweed extract at 500 ppm or amino acids at 750 ppm or K2O at 900 ppm increased total fresh and cured yield. Amino acids at 750 ppm increased weight loss percent during curing and bulb weight, potassium humate at 750 ppm or seaweed extract at 500 ppm, increased clove weight, the highest value of bulb dry matter percent was resulted from K2O at 900 ppm. The highest values of carbohydrates, nitrogen, TFAA, protein were resulted fromusing seaweed extract at 250 and 750 ppm, K2O at 300 ppm and seaweed extract at 750 ppm, respectively. Treatments of K2O at 900 and seaweed extract at 500 ppm improved storability of bulbs than the other tested treatments. Sids-40 cultivar with amino acids gave highest values of fresh weight of leaves, bulb and plant, dry weight of leaves and plant. Also, Sids-40cultivar with seaweed extract at 500 ppm resulted highst values of N and protein, while cultivar Balady with amino acids at 500 and potassium humate at 750 ppm gave highest values of C/N ratio and TFAA in leaves, respectively. Balady cultivar with amino acids at 750 ppm gave higher values of weight loss percent during curing. Total fresh yield and cured yield were not affected by the interaction. The highest values of bulb weight, clovenumber and clove weight were resulted from Sids-40 cultivar with amino acids at 250 ppm, Balady cultivar with seaweed extract at 250 ppm and Sids-40cultivar with potassium humate at 750 ppm, respectively. Sids-40 cultivar with seaweed extract at 750 ppm increased N and protein content in bulbs, however, Sids-40cultivar treated with K2O at 900 and 300 ppm increased carbohydrates and TFAA, respectively. Also, using Sids-40cultivar and spraying with amino acids or seaweed extract and K2O resulted in the lowest values of bulb weight loss during the storage period.

Key Words: Garlic, Cultivars, Amino acids, Potassium humate, Seaweed extract, Potassium oxide (K2O), Vegetative growth, Chemical contents, Total yield, Bulb quality, Storability.