EFFECT OF ORGANIC FERTILIZERS AND NUTRIENTS ON ANATOMICAL TRAITS OF RED BEETROOTS

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during fall season 2021-2022 In order to study the effect of soil as an agricultural medium, organic fertilizers (Vermecompost, cow manure) and foliar spraying of silicon and calcium on skin, bark and cambium ring thickness of three beetroot varieties (Red, Dark Red, and Cylindra). Seeds directly sown in the fields of Station A College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences - University of Baghdad - Al-Jadriya campus- Within RCBD a split-plot experiment, where the cultivars were the main unites, organic fertilizer, and foliar spray as the subunits, with three replicates, the number of treatments was 27. The results revealed that the triple interaction treatment of  Dark Red, Vermicompost, and silicon spray V₂S₂F₁ was superior in epidermis  thickness, cortex thickness, and cambium ring thickness (55.00 μm, 78.90 μm, and 182.07μm) respectively, compared with Cylindra cultivar, soil medium, and spraying with distilled water V₃S₁F₀, which produced the lowest averages (21.77 μm, 31.23 μm, 64.57 μm) respectively. The interaction treatment between Red cultivar, cow manure and spraying with distilled water V₁S₃F₀ excelled in the thickness of the middle xylem ring ( 261.33 μm). Compared with the thinnest middle xylem (143.8 μm) in red cultivar  roots treated with soil medium and distilled water.