IMPACT OF HUMIC ACID AND NITROGEN FERTILIZATION TREATMENTS ON PRODUCTIVITY AND GRAIN QUALITY OF SOME BARLEY VARIETIES

Authors

Dept. Agron., Fac. Agric., Zagazig Univ., Egypt.

Abstract

Field experiment was carried out at a private farm in Abu-Hammad District, Sharqia Governorate, Egypt, during two successive winter seasons 2018/2019, 2019/2020. The study aims at evaluating humic acid application and nitrogen fertilization treatments viz., control, nitrogen foliar application (4%), 30 kg N fad-1, N foliar application (4%) + 30 kg N fad-1 and 60 kg N fad-1 on productivity, grain quality and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of three barley varieties. In addition, the yield analysis of the three barley varieties viz., Giza129, Giza131 and Giza135 was investigated. Humic acid application enhanced barley productivity, quality and NUE. Giza131 surpassed the other two varieties in grain yield, some components and NUE in both seasons except protein content. Raising N level up to 60 kg Nfad-1 had a significant impact on all studied traits compared with control treatment, except NUE. Co-application of 30 kg N fad-1+N foliar application improved barley yield, most of its attributes, grain quality and NUE, which reflect the efficacy of N foliar application in fulfilling barley nitrogen requirements with the soil N applications. Additionally, path analysis indicated that: the grain number spike-1 had the highest direct effect on the grain yield among the varieties Giza129 and Giza131, the highest indirect effects on grain yield were assigned for grain weight spike-1 and spike number m-2, while spike number -m-2 had the greatest direct effect on the yield of Giza135, which demonstrates the importance of these traits in improving barley grain yield.

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