EFFECT OF PHOSPHORUS FERTILIZATION, FOLIAR APPLICATION WITH SEAWEED EXTRACTS AND MICRONUTRIENTS ON VEGETATIVE GROWTH AND DRY SEED YIELD OF OKRA (ABELMOSCHUS ESCULENTUS L.)

Abstract

This field trial was carried out at Sidi Salem district, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt during the two summer seasons of 2017 and 2018 on okra plants (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) cv. Baladi to study the beneficial effects of different levels of phosphorus fertilizer i.e. (0, 30 and 45kg P 2 O 5) with micronutrients; Fe, Zn and Mn at 1g/L, or seaweed extract at 3cm/L on plant vegetative growth, dry seed yield and nutrient uptake of okra. All studied treatments were arranged in a split plot design with three replicates. The results showed that adding phosphorus fertilizer at 30kg P 2 O 5 with seaweed extract at 3cm/L to okra plants produced significantly higher values of vegetative growth, total dry seed yield and chemical composition of okra plants followed by phosphorus fertilizer at 30kg P 2 O 5 with Fe at the rate of 1g/L. This shows a significant improvement for okra cultivation by application of phosphorus fertilizer combined with seaweed extract or micronutrients