Study on the Response of Statice Plants (Limonium sinuatum, L.) to Humic Acid Application

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ornamental Plants and Landscape Gardening Research Dept. Horticultural Research Institute, Giza, Egypt.

2 Ornamental Plants and Landscape Gardening Research Dept. Antoniades Botanical Garden, Horticultural Research Institute, Alexandria, Egypt.

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted on statice (Limonium sinuatum, L.) P. Mill. cv "Sunday Lavander"  throughout the two successive growth seasons (2013/2014) and (2014/2015) in El-Zuhrya Botanical Garden, Horticulture Research Institute, Giza, Egypt to study the effect of Humic acid foliar spray (25% w/v) applied at three different doses of application (5 .0 , 10.0 , 15 cm3/plant) on vegetative growth, flowering and mineral contents of statice leaves. The foliar spray was applied at either 15 day or 30 day intervals. All statice plants received the recommended NPK fertilization doses except for the unfertilized plants which did not receive any fertilizers. The results indicated that all Humic acid treatments resulted in considerable significant increases on all studied vegetative growth and flowering parameters compared with the control. The results revealed that applying 5 cm foliar humic acid at 30- day intervals gave the tallest plant height in both seasons. The plants received 15- cm3 humic acid at 30-day intervals, gave the highest significant values of leaf number per plant, leaf area, number of branches per plant and fresh and dry weights of leaves compared with the control. While, the highest significant values of stem diameter were observed after treatment with 10 cm humic at 30-day intervals in both seasons. Whereas, the highest significant values of stem fresh and dry weights were observed after treatment with 15 cm3 humic at 15day intervals. Regarding the effect of Humic acid treatment on flowering parameters. The highest number of stalks per plant was detected after treatment with 15 cm3 humic acid at 15-day.While the highest recorded stalk length values were detected after treatment with 15 cm3 humic acid at 30-day intervals. Whereas, the highest number of florets per flowering stalk and the highest significant values of dry weight of florets per flowering stalk were detected after treatment with 10 cm3 humic acid at 30-day intervals. Also, the results indicated that treatment with 15 cm3 humic acid at 15-day intervals gave the highest significant values of root dry weight. As for the effect of Humic acid application on leaf chlorophyll content and nutrients uptake in leaves, the results revealed that the highest significant values of leaf chlorophyll content and leaf NPK contents were recorded after treatment with 15 cm3 humic acid at 15-day intervals. It can be concluded that Humic acid when applying as foliar spray has a potential effect and can be used for increasing nutrient uptake and availability thus
stimulating growth and flowering characteristics of statice plants cv. "Sunday Lavander".

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