LIQUEFIED WATER AND ANTIOXIDANTS INFLUENCE ON VEGETATIVE GROWTH AND PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS OF SWEET ORANGE

Abstract

Citrus production faces many problems; a major one consists of irrigating citrus seedlings grown at Agricultural Research Stations and various nurseries with saline well water, which determines the growth, reproduction, and spread of citrus in Iraq. The said problem needs addressing to reduce its effects on the growth and reproduction of citrus fruits. Therefore, the latest research aimed to determine the effects of regular liquefied water and saline well water, in addition to a foliar spray of aspartic and ascorbic acids, on the growth and physiological properties of the grafted orange seedlings. The local citrus seedlings of the same age and size were selected and used as the original and grafted with local orange buds. They were shifted and tested for the above three factors at the Horticulture and Forestry Division, Najaf Agriculture Directorate, Iraq. The findings showed that irrigation with regular liquefied water had improved the growth traits, i.e., plant height, leaves plant-1, leaf area plant-1, and dry biomass weight of sweet orange seedlings, compared with saline well water. Results further revealed that foliar application of aspartic acid (100 mg L-1) positively affected the leaves plant-1 and dry biomass weight compared with the control. The ascorbic acid (4000 mg L-1) application gave highly superior and well-responsive reactions for most of the traits, i.e., leaves plant-1 (69.3 leaves plant-1), leaf area plant-1 (3888 cm2), dry biomass weight (0.3629 g), and total chlorophyll content (7.03 mg 100 g-1 fresh weight) in orange seedlings.