Marwan Rahman Al-Jobury*(1)and Waleed Khalid Al-Juheishy(1)
(1). Dept. of Field Crop College of Agric. & Forestry Mosul, Iraq.
(*Corresponding author: Marwan Al-jobury, Email: marwan.22agp32@student.uomosul.edu.iq.)
Received: 9/03/2024 Accepted: 28/04/2024
Abstract:
A field experiment was conducted during the winter seasons of 2022 and 2023 in Al-Abbasiya village, located approximately 12 kilometers north of Mosul city center in northern Iraq. The objective was to study the effect of two levels of fertilization (conventional NPK fertilizer and nano-fertilizer) on the growth, yield, and quality of five Safflower genotypes (Gilla, MUJ-36, MUJ-38, MUJ-7, MUJ-2). The experiment was laid out using a split-plot design with three replications according to a randomized complete block design (R.C.B.D). The results revealed significant differences between fertilizer levels, with conventional NPK fertilizer outperforming in branch number, while nano-fertilizer excelled in chlorophyll content (76.15 SPAD), number of disks per plant (35.88 disks/plant), disk diameter (2.41 cm), number of seeds per disk (35.74 seeds/disk), 1000-seed weight (38.05 g), seed yield (280.02 g/m2), and oil percentage in seeds (38.05%). Fertilizer levels did not significantly affect plant height. Significant differences were observed among genotypes, with MUJ-2 genotype significantly excelling in leaf chlorophyll content (92.63 SPAD), and MUJ-36 and MUJ-7 genotypes excelling in branch number (25.29 and 25.37 branches/plant, respectively). Gilla genotype excelled in the remaining studied traits. There was a significant interaction between fertilization and genotypes in all studied traits, and the highest seed and oil yield (370.96 g/m2 and 43.68%, respectively) were obtained from the interaction of nano-fertilizer with Gilla genotype.
Keywords: Nano-fertilization, NPK, Safflower Genotypes, Yield, Safflower.
Full paper in Arabic: pdf