EFFECT OF BIO AND MINERAL PHOSPHATE FERTILIZERS ON GROWTH AND PRODUCTIVITY OF CITRON (Citrullas colocynthis).

Two field trails were carried out during two successive summer seasons of 1998 and 1999 at the Farm of El-Gemmeiza Agricultural Research Station to study the response of citron plants to biofertilizer (Phosphorien) at 3 kg/fed and mineral-P fertilizer at 0, 15, 30, 45 and 60 kg P₂O₅ / fed. in addition to their interaction on growth, yield and its components, fruit traits and chemical constituents in plant leaves.
In general, the obtained results can be summarized as follows:-
1. Application of P-biofertilizer (Phosphorien) exerts significant increases in most studied characteristics of plant growth, yield, fruit traits and increased N, P and K concentrations in leaves compared with those of untreated plants.
2. All studied characteristics of plants received mineral-P were generally better than those of unfertilized ones. The highest values were obtained by using 30 kg P₂O₅/fed.
3. The interaction between phosphorien and phosphorus levels had significant effects on all studied characteristics.
In general, treating citron seeds with phosphorien at 3 kg /fed in addition to 30 kg P₂O₅/fed gave the maximum yield.