EFFECT OF SALINITY AND LITHOVIT ON GROWTH, YIELD COMPONENTS AND CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF CLUSTER BEAN (Cyamopsis tetragonoloba, Taub.)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Hort. Dept., Fac. Agric., Zagazig Univ., Egypt

Abstract

This work was conducted at the Nursery of Diarb Negm City Council, Sharkia
Governorate, Egypt during the two consecutive seasons of 2015 and 2016 to study the effect of
different soil salinity levels (0.0, 1500, 3000 and 4500 ppm), lithovit rates (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 g/l) as
foliar applications and their combination treatments on growth, yield components and some chemical
constituents of cluster bean (guar) plants. The investigations were performed in a split-plot in complete
randomized block design with 3 replications. The obtained results cleared that using salinity levels
decreased growth parameters (plant height, number of branches /plant and dry weight of leaves/ plant),
yield components (pod number and seed yield/plant), some chemical constituents (total chlorophyll
content a+b) and active ingredient (galactomanan) compared to control. Moreover, the highest values
in these parameters were registered by lithovit at 8 g/l treatment in both seasons, in most cases.
Generally, it could conclude that lithovit at 8 g/l, showed a uniform impact in alleviating of cluster
bean growth inhibition and its productivity under moderate salinity stress condition.

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