EFFECT OF NITROGEN FERTILIZATION AND ORGANIC ACIDS ON GRAINS PRODUCTIVITY AND BIOCHEMICAL CONTENTS OF QUINOA PLANT GROWN UNDER SOIL CONDITIONS OF RAS SADER-SINAI

Abstract

field experiment was carried out at Ras Suder Research Station (located at 29º 32' 28" N and 32º 39' 25'' E) throughout two seasons, i.e., 2014 and 2015 (saline soil of 8.56 dS m-1 , soil paste extract) and irrigated with water of 7.94 dS m-1 on quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa, cv. Utosaya) using organic manure, mineral N-fertilization and foliar spry with humic and ascorbic acids. Growth, yield and nutrient uptake parameters increased with increasing N fertilizer, application of humic acid and spraying with ascorbic acid. Treatments with organic manure gave yield values greater than without manure by 9.0, 7.3, 8.9 and 9.4% for plant height, number of branches per plant, 1000-seed weight per plant and total seed yield. The combination of 48 mg organic manure ha-1 + 240 kg N ha-1 with spraying with humic acid solution of 600 mg L-1 + ascorbic acid solution of 1000 mg L-1 gave the highest positive response of plant height (cm) of 118, 26.4, 3.97 and 16.8 for plant height, number of branches per plant, 1000-seed weight, seed weight per plant and seed yield, respectively. The highest values were obtained for 1000-seed weight, yield and nutrient uptake. Treatments in relative comparison of the three highest treatment combinations are manure/148 kg N/ humic acid 300 mg L-1 /ascorbic acid 500 mg L-1