Physiological Studies on Lupine (Lupinus termis L.) Plant Cultivated in Sandy Soil

Abstract

Egyptian bitter lupine (Lupinus termis L.) is an agriculturally valuable plant belonging to family Fabaceae (Leguminosae). Lupine seeds have significant nutritional values as having high protein (35-45%) and oil (10-15%) contents as well as medicinal and pharmaceutical values. The majority of Egypt lands are deserts that are exposed to a combination of environmental stress conditions. Therefore, the main target of this work was to carry out cultivation in a sandy reclaimed soil. Lupine plants have ability to fix nitrogen and grow well in poor soils and improve their fertility, permeability and water storage, particularly in reclaimed soils, thus making the overall farming practices more profitable. As a cultivated plant, lupine growth, yield and seed quality are mainly affected by most profitable sowing date (s) and application of potential bio-stimulant treatment(s). Therefore, the present study intended to investigate the effect of different sowing dates and pre-sowing treatments with glutamine (Q) or salicylic acid (SA) (each at three different concentrations) on the plant growth criteria, photosynthetic pigments, yield parameters, and the essential components of the yielded seeds. This study has been also devoted to outline the main metabolic aspects, biochemical trends, and phytohormone variations in the treated plants and fatty acid profiles of oil of the produced seeds and its possible biological activity. The main results and conclusions are summarized in the