Impact of Silicon and Some Rhizobial Species on Growth and Productivity of Tomato Under Different Irrigation Periods-North Sinai

Abstract

rrigation period is one of the significant factors affecting the growth, productivity, and yield of tomato plants. The study of increasing the period irrigation on tomato production is an important study of the effect of drought. The present investigation was carried out during the seasons of 2020/2021 in newly reclaimed arid land in the Agricultural Experimental Station of the Desert Research Center at Baloza Station, North Sinai Governorate (31° 32 03 N and 32° 362 03 E). The experimental results indicated that the increase in irrigation periods and foliar spraying foliar with silicon and microbial rhizobia in addition to the recommended doses of mineral fertilizers led to an increase in the yield of fresh and dry yield of tomato fruit and the nutrients content of leaves and fruits significantly increased. The average of tomato fruits accumulated in excess of biomass as total protein and total antioxidant content were increased by foliar spraying with silicon and also by inoculation of roots of the seedling by rhizobia. Proline content and water usage efficiency (WUE) in fruits were enhanced by various irrigation regimes. In comparison to the control, the irrigation water use efficiency (WUE) and proline content rose with the application of silicon and rhizobia but with less irrigation time. The microbial densities and activity under drought stress were boosted by the simultaneous application of silicon and rhizobia. It is notable that, soil dehydrogenase increased significantly with increasing irrigation period from 60 to 120 min, the highest mean values (1.031 μmol triphenyl formazan/g dry soil) were recorded at 120 min of field capacity of water requirement.