Tolerance of Two Sorghum Varieties to Salinity Using Different Nutritional Practices and Two Leaching Requirements

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Ministry of Agriculture research station in Abu Ghraib district to investigate the role of using different nutritional practices and two leaching requirements on the tolerance of two sorghum varieties to salt stress during the spring season of 2022. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design “RCBD” with a split-plot arrangement and three replicates. The treatments included Two Sorghum verities (Al-Khair synthetic variety (C1) and Rabeh synthetic variety (C2), Two leaching requirements (normal leaching requirements (L1) and doubled leaching requirements (L2) and 7 fertilizer treatments (Control, NPK, NPKS, NPKS+ micronutrients, NPKS+ micronutrients+ Nano silicon, NPKS+ micronutrients + Nano silicon + calcium and magnesium nitrate, NPKS + micronutrients + Nano silicon + potassium Humates), symbolized as (F0, F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, and F6), respectively. Results showed that applications of fertilizer treatments F5 and F6 had a significant impact on the growth indicators of the plant, where the highest average of plant height was 1.11 m and the highest average of leaf area was 0.48 m2 for treatment F5. The highest chlorophyll content was 85.43 (SPAD), the highest biological yield was 11373.6 kg ha−1, and the highest grain yield 5191.6 kg ha-1 was with treatment F6. Doubled leaching requirements (L2) exceeded the normal leaching requirements (L1) in some parameters, which led to an increase in the height and biological yield of the plant. The results showed a significant superiority of the sorghum variety (C2) over (C1) in the leaf area of 0.45 m2, as well as the biological yield of 11235.5 kg ha-1. The dual interactions have a significant effect on increasing plant height, leaf area, chlorophyll, biological yield, and grain yield. Triple interactions had a significant effect in increasing the height and grain yield of the plant. These results clearly showed that the proper management practices could be used to improve soil properties and increase the availability of nutrients and improve plant tolerance to abiotic stress such as soil salinity.