Impact of Bacterial Fertilization and Foliar Growmore Application on the Growth Parameters of Pomegranate 'Wonderful' Saplings

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the biofertilizer Azospirillum brasilense and the chemical foliar fertilizer Grow More, individually and in combination, on improving some vegetative growth characteristics of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Wonderful saplings under the Najaf Governorate environmental conditions. The experiment was RCBD factorial included ۳ levels of biofertilizer and the commercial balanced Growmore foliar fertilizer, to study the effect of each and their interaction on a number of vegetative growth indicators. The findings showed that the treatments differently affected studied growth parameters namely the increase in sapling height, number of leaves, stem diameter, number of branches, leaf area, and total leaf chlorophyll content. The soil applied biofertilizer A. brasilense resulted in significantly higher values in most traits especially at ۱۲ ml seedling⁻¹ compared to the control. Similar but lower effectiveness was detected in the individual treatments with foliar balanced Growmore where the best results were obtained at ۳۰۰ mg L-۱. Overall findings indicate that the highest percentage increase was in the interaction treatment of ۱۲ ml sapling-۱ bacterial fertilizer and ۳۰۰ ml L-۱ Growmore, which achieved an increase over the control in sapling height by ۱۲۰%, in the number of leaves by ۱۳۵%, and in stem diameter by ۱۸۰%. The number of branches also increased from less than ۷ to ۳۵ branches/seedling, and the leaf area and leaf chlorophyll content recorded an increase over the control by ۱۸۹% and ۲۰۰% respectively.

کلیدواژه ها:

Azospirillum ، fruit trees ، organo-fertilization ، Sustainable agriculture