Effectiveness of Azolla Extract In Reducing Use of Mineral Fertilizers (NPK) and Increasing Productivity of Wheat under New Reclaimed Soils

Altai, Dargham S. K.; Alhasany, Ali R.; Noaema, Ali H.; Idan, Wurood J.; Al-Farhan, Ilham M.

doi:10.21608/jpp.2019.62503

Effectiveness of Azolla Extract In Reducing Use of Mineral Fertilizers (NPK) and Increasing Productivity of Wheat under New Reclaimed Soils

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of plant protection, College of Agriculture, Missan University, Iraq.

² Department of Field crops, College of Agriculture, Al-Muthana University, Iraq.

³ Department of plant production, Basrah Agriculture Directorate, Ministry of Agriculture, Iraq.

10.21608/jpp.2019.62503

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out in Al-Mijar Al-Kabeer District, 25 km South of Misan Governorate, Iraq, during 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons to study effect of spraying with Azolla extract‎ at 0, 20, 40 and 60% and NPK-fertilizers levels (60, 80 and 100% of the recommended doses "RD") on Egyptian wheat Sids 1cultivar productivity under new reclaimed soils. The experiment was applied according to split-plot design with three ‎replicates.‎The results showed that increasing concentration of the Azolla extract‎ resulted in an increase in most studied characters in both seasons. The increasing rate in grain yield was 57.37 and 51.71 % and in biological yield was 37.66 and 21.57 % for foliar spraying ‎with Azolla extract at 60 % compared with control treatment in the first and second seasons, respectively. Most studied characters gradually increased due to increasing NPK-fertilizers levels from 60 to 80 and 100% of RD and without significant differences between 80 and 100% in both seasons. As for the interaction between spraying ‎with Azolla extract levels and NPK-fertilizers levels, it was significant on spike length in 1st season only, number of spikes/m2, weight of 1000 grains and biological yield in both seasons. It can be stated that foliar spraying Egyptian bread wheat Sids 1cultivar with Azolla extract at 60 % alongside mineral fertilizing with 152.0 kg N + 42.8 kg P2O5 + 45.6 K2O ha-1 (80% of RD) to preserve high productivity simultaneously reduce production costs and environmental pollution under the environmental conditions of Misan, Iraq.

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