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Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences

Year: 2004 | Volume: 7 | Issue: 4 | Page No.: 503-507
DOI: 10.3923/pjbs.2004.503.507
Halophytes and Foliar Fertilization as a Useful Technique for Growing Processing Tomatoes in the Saline Affected Soils
Mahmoud M. Shaaban, Mohamed M. El-Fouly, El-Zanaty , A. A. Abou El-Nour and Abdel-Wahab A. Abdel-Maguid

Abstract: A field experiment was conducted to grow processing tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum L. var. Heinz) in saline-affected soil of Suez, Egypt compared to others grown on non-saline soil. The work was dimensioned to take advantage of the high potentiality of the wild grown halophyte Zygophyllum coccinium in reducing soil salinity to a tolerable level for tomatoes to produce a satisfactory yield. To avoid salinity increase by adding macronutrient fertilizers to soil, tomato plants grown after Zygophyllum harvest were sprayed with NPK as a complementary technique to meet the plant nutritional requirements. Results showed that growing Zygophyllum sown two months before tomato transplanting could reduce 72.2% of the total soluble salts of the surface layer, lowering EC of the soil suspension by 67.3% and Mg++, Na+ and Cl-ion-concentrations by 77.3, 65 and 69.4%, respectively. As the plants received NPK as foliar fertilization, concentrations of K, Ca and Mg in stems and leaves as well as K and Ca in the fruits were increased. Macronutrients foliar feeding could also decrease concentrations of the harmful ions Na+ and Cl- in the tissues of plants grown on saline affected soil compared to those received no fertilization. Plants grown under saline affected soil conditions produced nearly one-half of the yield produced by those grown under the same soil conditions but received NPK foliar treatments or those grown under non-saline soil conditions and received no fertilization. However, the highest yield was obtained by the plants grown on non-saline soil and received NPK-foliar feeding

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How to cite this article
Mahmoud M. Shaaban, Mohamed M. El-Fouly, El-Zanaty , A. A. Abou El-Nour and Abdel-Wahab A. Abdel-Maguid, 2004. Halophytes and Foliar Fertilization as a Useful Technique for Growing Processing Tomatoes in the Saline Affected Soils. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, 7: 503-507.

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