RESPONSE OF CASTOR (Ricinus communis L.) YIELD OF SEED AND OIL TO THE FOLIAR APPLICATION OF GREEN TEA EXTRACT

Abstract

which located in the city of Baqubah, the center of Diyala Governorate in the Northeastern part of the capital of Iraq, Baghdad. The experiment aimed to study the effect of spraying with four concentrations of Camellia sinensis (green tea) extract (0, 50, 75 and 100) ml/l in the yield of seed and oil of two castor plant varieties: Zibo castor and Carmencita. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using a factorial experiment according to a Completely Randomized Block Design (RCBD). The results showed a significant superiority of the concentration of 75 ml/l, which recorded the highest averages of dry weight of leaves (g), number of fruits per plant, weight of 300 seeds (g), seed yield per plant (g/plant), oil percentage (%) and oil yield (kg/ha). These values were 171.6 (g/plant), 122 fruits/plant, 68.2 (g), 53.0 (g/plant), 41.9 (%) and 494.0 (kg/ha), respectively. The study also revealed the significant superiority of the Zibo castor variety, with the highest averages for the mentioned traits, reaching 179.4 (g/plant), 134 fruits/plant, 66.8 (g), 59.2 (g/plant), 43.0 (%), and 562.2 (kg/ha), respectively. Furthermore, the study results indicated significant differences between the means of some studied traits due to the interaction between the experiment factors. The combination of spraying green tea extract at a concentration of 75 ml/l with the Zibo castor variety recorded the highest averages for seed yield, oil percentage and oil yield, which reached 66.0 (g/plant), 43.3 (%), and 630.0 (kg/ha), respectively.