Effect of Sulphur Levels and Spray with some Natural Stimulant Substances on Productivity and Storability of Garlic

Abstract

Two field trials were conducted on garlic clone Sids-40, in the vegetable private Farm at Kafr Meet Faris, Dakahlia Governorate, during 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 seasons to study the effect of sulphur fertilizer levels (150 , 300 and 450 kg S/fed) and spraying with some natural stimulants (yeast, moringa and chitosan) on plant growth, yield and its components, as well as chemical constituents and storability of bulbs. In general, plants fertilized with sulphur elemental were better than unfertilized plants. Increasing of applied sulphur level from 150 to 450 kg S/fed significantly improved all studied growth characteristics, yield and its components in addition to chemical constituents, bulbing ratio and number of cloves/bulb which had a better values in both seasons. Moreover, sulphur application at 450 kg/fed significantly increased concentrations of N, P, K, S, TSS % and volatile oils in cloves and enhanced storability. Foliar spray garlic plants 3 times past 45 , 60 and 75 days from planting with chitosan (200 mg/L) exceeded other foliar spray with some natural stimulants and formed the highest means of whole studied growth characteristics, yield and its components, chemical constituents and enhanced bulbing ratio, number of cloves/bulb storability in both seasons. The best results were obtained by application of 450 kg S/fed and foliar spray with chitosan. This treatment achieved reduces weight loss at the end of the storage period reached to 20.3% and 20.5% in the first and the second seasons respectively comparing with the untreated ones. Therefore, this treatment could be recommended for raising garlic yield and improving bulb quality during the storage period under similar conditions to this work.