INFLUENCE OF PLANTING DATE, PRE-SOWING TREATMENTS AND APPLICATION METHODS OF VARIOUS POTASSIUM SOURCES ON GROWTH, YIELD, QUALITY AND STORABILITY OF GARLIC (Allium sativum L.)

Abstract

September and 1 st October, pre-sowing treatments by soaking cloves, i.e. 250 ppm GA 3 , yeast extract (4g L-1) and water (control) as well as four different sources and applications of potassium fertilizer, i.e. foliar spray of liquid potassium (37.5% K 2 O), Potassium humate or thiosulphate at 3 mlL-1 integrated with the half recommended dose of potassium (48 kg K 2 O/fed) for each as soil dressing and their interactions beside the control treatment(96kgK 2 O/fed)as soil dressing only without any foliar application on germination, growth, productivity and storability of garlic cv. Sids-40. The acquired results indicate generally that, early sowing date 15 th Sep. had enhancing effects on germination percentage, number of days to emergence, vegetative growth characters, yield and its components, as well as, quality and storability of bulbs. Soaking cloves at 250 ppm of GA 3 for 12 hours as pre-sowing treatment increased the morphological traits, yield and its components, the chemical composition of plant and cloves as well as bulb storability. Foliar spray of potassium humate or thiosulphate at 3 mlL-1 with 48kg K 2 O/fed as soil dressing showed superior performance of all studied parameters. The best interaction values of most plant growth characteristics, i.e. plant height, No. of leaves, fresh and dry weight/plant, diameter of neck and bulb as well as bulbing ratio and yield components, i.e. physical characters of bulb, i.e. fresh and dry weight of bulb, fresh weight of clove and No. of cloves/bulb as well as total yield, exportable and marketable yield/fed and plant chemical composition, i.e. N, P and K content, cloves quality, i.e. N, P, K and total carbohydrates content as well as decreasing weight loss of bulbs during storage period were obtained by soaking Sep. and spraying plants with 3 mlL-1 of potassium humate or thiosulphate with 48 kg K 2 O/fed as soil dressing. Conclusively, planting on 15 th of September after soaking cloves for 12 hours at 250 ppm of GA 3 and fertilized plants with 48 kg K 2 O/fed as soil dressing combined with spraying 3mlL-1 with potassium humate or thiosulphate considered as much cheaper, easier and saver technique compared with the traditional methods of application of potassium fertilizer ,could be recommended to produce the higher production and quality of garlic crop.