Effect of Ground Addition of Seaweed Extract and NPK Fertilizer on the Vegetative Growth Characteristics of Aloe vera L.

Abstract

Abstract To investigate the impact of ground application of seaweed extract and NPK fertilizer on some vegetative growth characteristics of Aloe vera, an experiment was conducted during the agricultural season (2021-2022) in the wooden canopy of the Department of Horticulture and Garden Engineering at the College of Agriculture / University of Karbala. The experiment had two factors: the addition of fertilizer to the neutralized NPK at three concentrations (4, 2, 0) g.L-1, and the employment of an environmentally friendly nutritional program by adding seaweed powder to the chemical program of adding NPK fertilizer neutralized 20:20:20 L-1. The following emerged from the experiment’s findings: (1) The ground addition of seaweed extract of the aloe vera plant led to a significant increase in all vegetative characteristics when treated T3 concentration (3 g. L-1) (plant height 32.11 cm, leaf thickness 10.93 mm, number of leaves 12.56 leaves plant-1, fresh weight 167.78 g, leaf dry weight 55.89 g). (2) The results showed that the addition of the neutral NPK fertilizer to the aloe vera plant at a concentration of (4 g / l-1) when treated, showed significant differences in all vegetative growth characteristics (plant height (30.60) cm ،the thickness of the leaf is 9.86 mm, the number of leaves is 12.11 leaves. Plant, the fresh weight is 158.00 g, the dry weight of the leaf is 52.53 g). (3)The binary interaction between the addition of seaweed extract and NPK fertilizer when the interaction T3N4 (4g/l-1 + 3 4g/l-1) showed significant differences in all vegetative characteristics of aloe vera plant، (Plant height 34.83 cm, leaf thickness 12.73 mm, number of leaves 15.00 leaf. Plant, fresh weight 174.33 gm, dry weight 58.07 gm.