EFFECT OF FOLIAR SPRAY WITH SOME MICRONUTRIENTS AND SLOW RELEASE NITROGEN FERTILIZERS RATES ON PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY OF SWEET POTATO (Ipomea batats L.).

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out at El-Bramoon Experimental Farm, Hort. Res. Institute, Mansoura, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt (+ 7m altitude, 30 o 11latitude and 28 o 26 longitude), during seasons of 2012 and 2013, to study the effect of slow release-N Sulfur coated urea "SCU" rats, and foliar spray with some micronutrients levels as well as their interaction on productivity, and quality of sweet potato cv. Abees. The most important finding could be summarized as follows: In general, results showed that the plants sprayed with mixture of micronutrients were better than those of the unsprayed ones. Increasing the foliar applied mixture of micronutrients concentration from 0 to 50 ppm significantly increase plant height, plant dry weight and leaves area/plant as well as total yield, marketable yield and weight, length and diameter. Moreover, foliar application of mixture of micronutrients significantly increased concentrations of N in the first season only. In addition, reducing sugar and carotene were increased in both seasons. Foliar spray with mixture of micronutrients at 50 ppm had the most interesting observation in the enhancing of most studied characters. On the other hand, application of slow release nitrogen fertilizers rates gave rise to significant increases in plant height, number of branches/plant; plant dry weight, leaves area/plant ratio, total yield, marketable yield and weight, length and diameter as well as chemical and organic constituents on tuber root of sweet potato. The application of 60 kgN/fed. sulfur coated urea "SCU", was superior on all studied characters. The combined treatments of sprayed with mixture of micronutrients and sulfur coated urea "SCU" were generally more effective on the most studied parameters than single ones. The best results were obtained by foliar sprayed with micronutrients at 50 ppm and application with 60 kg N/fed. sulfur coated urea "SCU" gave the highest values of plant growth, yield and its components as well as chemical and organic constituents in both seasons compared with the other treatments. Therefore, this treatment could be recommended for raising sweet potato productivity and quality under similar conditions to this work.

Effect of N-Fertilizer Types and Rates Interacted with Water Regime on Micronutrients Uptake by Potato Grown on Sandy Soil

“…Overall means of Mn as affected by interaction between N forms and N rates indicated the superiority of urea over ammonium phosphate. These results confirmed those earlier obtained by Saif El-Deen et al, (2015) who found that Mn concentration in sweet potato tubers was increased with increasing N fertilizer rates up to 60 kg N fed -1 . They added that improvement of micronutrients content in tubers as well as yield may be attributed to stimulating biological activities, i.e., enzyme activity, chlorophyll synthesis, rate of translocation of photosynthetic products and increased nutrient uptake through roots after foliar fertilization.…”

Effect of Foliar Nutrition and Vine Top Harvesting in Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) for Growth, Vine Top and Tuber Yield

“…Enhanced root growth and function could improve nutrient and water uptake, supporting overall plant health and the production of more marketable tubers. The studies of Hartemink et al [18] and [12] were also documented the importance of nitrogen and foliar application of micronutrients for enhancing the marketable tubers yield in sweet potato and were agreement with present study.…”

“…Micronutrients like boron, zinc, and manganese play essential roles in various physiological processes necessary for tuber enlargement, aligning with the findings of Saif El-Deen et al [12] and [17].…”

“…This improvement is attributed to their additional application of urea and a micronutrient mixture via foliar spray. The synergy between urea and micronutrients, such as iron and manganese, contributes to better nitrogen utilization, thus promoting growth and yield [14] emphasised the significance of nitrogen application in increasing vine length and branch number [12] and [15] also support the notion that higher nitrogen application levels significantly enhance fresh herbage, biomass, and dry matter yield.…”

“…Nitrogen augments sweet potato biomass and root yield [10,11] Micronutrients are essential for various plant functions. Application of micronutrients lead to superior plant performance and enhancing marketable tuber output [12]. Similarly [13] repported superior plant performance with micronutrient sprays and enhancing marketable output.…”