Asian Journal of Plant and Soil Sciences

Allopathic Effect of Conocarpus lancifolius Leaf Extract on Maize, Brassica, Wheat and Sorghum Growth Parameters

Uzair Ahmad Zia — 2023-03-14

Certain trees released different phytochemicals which is challenged for now modern agriculture to remove all these hazards chemicals which are dangerous for human health and environment. When allelopathy is used in renewable agriculture system it has both positive and negative effect. Allelopathic chemical extract can increase or decrease the productivity of various crops. At low amount of extract, it promotes the growth but at high amount, it suppresses the growth and reduce the productivity, these allelochemicals are released from plants which play an important role in our ecosystem. The responsible compounds may be phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids, amino acids and alkaloids. Conocarpus effect was determined during 2022 in vitro environment on cereal germination physiology. By applying the aqueous extract of Conocarpus to cereal crops, namely Brassica, Wheat, Maize and Sorghum at the rate of 10% (w/v) to check its allelopathic potential. In addition to the control 20 ml of dry leaf aqueous extract was applied at interval of 4 days each treatment. The data obtained after 25 days showed that the fresh weight (g) and dry weight (g) of each examined specie were significantly reduced as compared to the control experiment. Germination percentage, shoot length (cm), root length (cm), Number of leaves and days to germination are adversely affected by the application of Conocarpus aqueous extract instead of control experiment. These results indicate that the aqueous extract of Conocarpus has allelopathic potential. Hence there is a significant role of Conocarpus allelopathic effect on cereal crops.

Response of Potato Plant Grown on Sandy Soil to Banana Residues and Rice Straw Composts with External Application of Boron and Molybdenum

Mohamed A. Soliman — 2023-03-18

Reclamation of poor sandy soils is within the Egyptian state's plan for horizontal expansion to achieve food security to counter population increase during the coming decades. So, a field trial was performed aiming to evaluate two types of compost i.e., banana compost and rice straw compost at a rate of 10.0 ton fed^-1 for all of them as the main factor on the growth performance, quantitative and qualitative yield of the potatoes plant. While the exogenous application of some beneficial elements i.e., control (without foliar application), boron element (60.0 mg L^-1) alone, molybdenum element (60.0 mg L^-1) alone and combined addition of both (B + Mo at a rate of 30.0 mg L^-1 for both) represented the subplots. The obtained findings show that the maximum values of growth criteria such as plant height, fresh and dry weights, chlorophyll content and leaves chemical composition (N, P, K and B) a period of 80 days from planting as well as the highest values of the quantitative and qualitative yield of the potato plant e.g., the average weight of one tuber, No. of tuber plant^-1, yield, total carbohydrates, total sugars, dry matter and vitamin C were realized with the banana compost treatment, while the lowest ones were realized with the plants treated with rice straw compost. Also, the highest values of all aforementioned traits were recorded with the combined treatment of B + Mo followed by treatment of B alone and then treatment of Mo alone, while the control treatment (without foliar application) came in the last order. Noting that the accumulation of nitrate was reduced due to Mo element. Thus, the best growth performance, quantitative and qualitative yield of the potato plant was recorded under the combined treatment of banana compost x B element (30.0 mg L^-1) x Mo element (30.0 mg L^-1). Generally, it can be concluded that the banana compost and rice straw compost besides foliar application of B and Mo will lead to the achievement of sustainability in the newly reclaimed soils of Egypt.

The Effects of Compost and Magnesium on the Productivity of Coriander Plant

Fatma R. Ibrahim — 2023-03-22

It is known that organic fertilization is environmentally beneficial as well as the vital role of magnesium (Mg) as a co-enzyme with enzymes that build oils and fats is known. However, to our knowledge, no research has been done on the combined effect of different sources of compost and different rates of magnesium (Mg) on coriander plants. So, two field experiments were executed aiming at assessing three compost sources [PC: Plant compost, FYM C: Farmyard manure compost, and TR C: Town refuse compost, at rate of 30.0 m³ ha^-1 for each source] plus control (without compost) on coriander plants as main plots. While the sub-main plots were assigned for Mg rates as exogenous applications [0.00, 500, 1000, and 1500 g ha^-1] using magnesium sulphate (MgSO₄, consisting of 20.19 Mg²⁺ % by mass). Some parameters i.e., plant height (cm), fresh and dry weights (g plant^-1), No. of branches plant^-1, No. of umbels plant^-1, chemical constituents in leaves (N, P, K, Mg %) the, weight of 1000 seeds (g), seed yield, (g plant^-1& kg ha^-1), oil percentage and oil yield (ml plant^-1& L ha^-1) were determined. The results showed that the plant compost treatment was the superior for obtaining the maximum values of all studied parameters followed by FYM C treatment then TR C treatment and lately control treatment (without compost). Regarding the magnesium treatments, the results illustrated that the values of all studied parameters increased as the Mg rate increased. Generally, it can be concluded that treating soil with plant compost at rate of 30.0 m³ ha^-1 before cultivation and simultaneously spraying the grown coriander plants through their life period with Mg at rate of 1500 g ha^-1 is the best-combined treatment, which will achieve pronounced achievement in plant performance and yield.