RESPONSE OF GROWTH, YIELD, PRODUCTIVITY AND STORABILITY OF ONION (ALLIUM CEPA L.) TO FOLIAR SPRAY WITH SOME GROWTH

STIMULANTS Mohammed. E. Ahmed*, Amany. A. Abd El-Latif**, Asem A. Al-Araby*, Fathy.

M. Mehrez* *: Horticulture department, Faculty of Agriculture, Tanta University, Egypt **: Horticulture department, Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Egypt ABSTRACT

This work was carried out during the two successive seasons of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015at the private farm in Mehalet Abu Ali village, Al-Mahalla Al-Kubra, Al-Gharbia Governorate to investigate the response of onion (Allium cepa L.) cv. Giza Red to the foliar spray with Seaweed, chitosan, amino acids, carboxylic acids, potassium and silicon in addition to tap water as control treatment. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Data were collected on some vegetative, yield, bulbs physical characteristics, chemical components of leaves and bulbs, and storability. In general, the results showed significant differences between treatments and control. Seaweed treatment was the most effective treatment for total yield and marketable yield, while chitosan treatment gave the lowest values for weight loss %. silicon treatment gave the lowest values for rotting infection and highest value for bulb fresh weight.

Keywords: Onion, seaweed, chitosan, amino acids, carboxylic acids, potassium, silicon. INTRODUCTION

Onion (Allium cepa, L.) is one of the most important vegetable crops grown in Egypt, as well as it is one of the major exportable vegetable crops. The total cultivated area amounted by 202 thousand fed. which produced 3.115.842 ton (Fao, 2016). onion bulbs make an important contribution to human's diet, having vitamins, flavonoids, macro and micro elements.

Foliar fertilization with macro and micro nutrients are being used to avoid nutrient leaching or fixation. It is also found that additional foliar fertilization during crop growth may increase the crop yield and quality (Kolota and Osinska, 2001).

Many investigators reported the beneficial effects of spraying the plants with foliar fertilizers (Sharaf and Fouda, 1984; El Sayed et al., 1985 and Behairy and Fatma, 1995).

Seaweeds extracts are considered as bio-fertilizers. Many studies in the past three decades have found wide application in modern agriculture for the use of marine macro algae as whole or finely chopped powdered algal manure or aqueous extracts. Liquid extracts of seaweeds have been used as foliar sprays for several crops. Challen and Hemingway (1965), reported that the extract contains growth promoting hormones (IAA and IBA), Cytokinins, trace elements (Fe, Cu, Zn, Co, Mo, Mn, Ni), vitamins and amino acids

Chitosan, is a cationic polysaccharide, produced by the alkaline deacetylation of chitin, which is present in shells of insects and marine crustaceans. It has many favorable properties such as availability, biodegradability, biocompatibility, bioactivity, non-toxicity and has good adhesion and sorption may be the reasons for its wide applications (Ravi, 2000 and Pillai and Panchagnula, 2001). Chitosan had molecular signals works as plant growth promoters (Hadwiger et al. 2002). Also (Khan et al., 2002; Chibu and Shibayama, 2003 and Gornik et al., 2008) reported that chitosan increases plant growth and development.

Amino acids are the building blocks for protein synthesis. It is widely used for the biosynthesis of many nitrogenous compounds such as, vitamins, co-enzymes,

pigments, purine and pyrimidine bases. Also amino acids increased uptake of nutrients and water Sarojnee et al.(2009). It is the source of organic nitrogen and reduced nitrate contact in bulbs Güne et al, (1996). Low-Molecular Weight Carboxylic Acids makes the difference with other fertilizers. Carboxylic acids are a carbon structure with at least one Carboxylic group (R-COOH) which are deprotonated in a basic medium to form Carboxylates Salts, usually more soluble in water than the corresponding acid and weaker (less dissociated or ionized) that weak inorganic acids, providing greater stability and balance to the molecular complex. Carboxylic acids have a hydrophilic head (the carboxyl group) and a hydrophobic tail (the part of hydrocarbon chain), (Wikimania 2015). Therefore, in aqueous solutions are placed forming micelles; sets of surfactant molecules that improve the assimilation of nutrients. (Obinna et al.,2017).

Many researchers found that potassium increased plant growth and productivity (Fatma and Shafeek, 2000; Abd El-Al et al., 2005; El-Bassiony, 2006; Aisha et al., 2007; Aisha and Taalab, 2008; Shaheen et al., 2009 and Shokr and Fathy, 2009).

Silicon (Si) is one of the most abundant elements on earth (Belanger et al., 1995) that is exists as silica (silicon dioxide) or silicates in nature. It has been shown to increase plant growth and crop quality, stimulate photosynthesis (Ma and Takahashi, 2002), and protecting against fungal diseases (Belanger et al., 1995).

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of some promoting substances, on growth, productivity and storability of onion cv. "Giza Red". MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study was conducted at the private farm in Mehalet Abu Ali village, Al-Mahalla El-Kubra, Al-Gharbia Governorate, Egypt, during two successive winter seasons of 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. Before Initiating the field experiments, representative soil samples were collected at 0-30 cm depth to determine some soil physical and chemical properties according to Ryan et al. (1996) and resulting values shown in Table (1). The planting date was 15th December in both 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 seasons. The plots were plantedat 10 cm apart in both sides of the ridges. The plot area was 16 m2 which contained 5 rows with 4 m in length and 80 cm in width.

Table 1: Some physical and chemical proper es of experimental soil shown as average of two seasons

Physical properties

Sand %

23.59

Silt %

20.41

Clay %

56.00

Texture Clay

Chemical properties

Ec (m mohs/ cm)

0.51

PH

8.2 - 8.5

Available N

(ppm)

20

Available P (ppm)

14

Available K (ppm)

240

TREATMENTS: We applied the seven treatments of foliar spray at 30, 60 and 90 days after transplanting as follows:

a. Chitosan: The source of chitosan was the Egypt Chamita Company (Kompass). The concentration of the commercial chitosan (chitocare) was 2ml\l.Table 2 shows the chemical composition of chitocare.

Table 2: The chemical composition of chitocare the commercial source of chitosan: Compone

nts Concentration (ppm)

N 1000

P 500

K 500

Fe 100

Cu 50

Mn 50

B 50

b. Seaweed extract: The source of seaweed extracts was the commercial product Oligo-x produced by the company of Unions for Agricultural Development in Cairo, Egypt. Seaweeds extract as Oligo-x was applied after 30 days from planting and repeated in one-month interval, in a concentration of 2ml\l. The Oligo-x compost analysis was as follows in table (3).

c. Potassium: The Potassium was applied in the form of commercial product (Hyber-K) which contains 60 % K2O with a concentra on of 4ml\l.

a. Amino acids: Theamino acids were used in the form of the commercial product (Amino more) with a concentra on of 1ml\l. The chemical composition of amino more was as follows in Table (4). b. Silicon: The applied concentration of the commercial Silicon (Potassium Sil-Ghanem) was 8ml\l. which contained K2O 10 % and SiO2 25%. c. Carboxylic acids: The applied concentration of the commercial Carboxylic acids (Tecnocalcio EG) was 8ml\l. The chemical composition of Tecnocalcio EG was Ca(NO3)2 6.7% , CaO 18.36% and Carboxylic acids 6.8%. d. Tap water: The tap water as used as control treatment.

Table 3: The chemical and biochemical analyses of seaweed compost

Seaweed Compost Characteris

tics Moisture % 30.4 PH 6.2 EC (ds/m) 1.5 Total Nitrogen % 2.1 Organic matter % 33 Organic Carbon % 19.12 C/N ratio 01:13 Total amino acid % 0.3 Total Phosphorus % 0.9 Total Potassium % 1.6 Calcium % 0.11 Magnesium % 0.10 Sulphur (%) 1.1 Fe (ppm) 1400 Mn (ppm) 160 Zn (ppm) 90 Cu (ppm) 130 I (ppm) 15 Weed seeds Non Nematodes - Parasitic - Total auxins (ppm)

125

Cytokinins (Adenine) (ppm)

80

The treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replicates.

Recommended units of mineral N. P. K. fertilizer were 100 N, 60 P2O5 and 100 K2O kg\fed and other cultural practices were followed as recommended by the ministry of agriculture, Egypt.

Table 4: The chemical composition of (Amino More) the commercial source of amino acids Compone

nt Con

%. Aspartic 1.25 Histidine 0.21 Phenyl

alanine 0.37

Glutamic 3 Arginine 1.75 Alanine 0.92 Prolin 1.48 Volnine 0.93 Tyrosine 0.19 Lysine 0.64

Glycin 0.76 Serine 1.78 Threonine 1.33 Leucine 0.76 Isoleucine 0.41

K2O 35000

Zn 500 Mn 500

Fe 1500

DATA COLLECTION 1. Vegetative Growth characters:

Five plants were randomly selected at 90 days after transplanting from each treatment to measure the vegetative growth characters of onion plants expressed as follows. 1. Plant height (cm). 2. Leaf-blades length (cm). 3. Leaf-blades diameter (cm). 4. Number of leaves/plant. 5. Fresh weight/plant (g). 6. Dry weight /plant (g). 2. Yield and its components characters:

At harvest period (145 days after transplanting). The yield and its components characters as follows: Bulb yield (ton\fed): it was calculated based on the weight of matured bulbs yield

per plot and converted into Fadden base and expressed in tones. Single bulb (%). Marketable yield (ton\fed): obtained by the product of Bulb yield×Single bulb (%).

At harvest period, sample 10 bulbs from each plot was taken to determine: Bulb fresh weight (g). Bulb dry weight (g). Bulb l \ength (cm). Bulb diameter (cm). Bulbing ratio: Bulb length (cm)\Bulb diameter (cm) (Mann, 1952). 3. Chemical composition characters:

Chemical composition of leaves and bulbs were determined in samples consisted of the five plants taken randomly from each replicate at 90 days from planting. In addition, 10 bulbs were also randomly taken from each replicate at harvesting time to determine the following chemical constituents: a. Total Nitrogen (ppm): Total Nitrogen in both Bulbs and leaves was determined by sodium salicylate method Jackson( 1967). b. Phosphorus (ppm): Available phosphorus in dry matter of bulbs and leaves was determined according to the methods by used ascorbic acid Watanabe and Olsen (1965). c. Potassium (ppm): Total potassium percentage was determined by using Flame photometer according to Brown and lilliland (1946).

d. Carbohydrates (ppm): Carbohydrates content was determined according to the anthirone method by Sadasivam and Amanickam (1991), Hansen and Møller (1975) and Marshall (1986). e. Silicon(ppm): Silicon content was determined according to the ICP plasma method by Jones (1987) and Taylor (1987). f. TSS (%). 4. Storability characters:

A portion of 50 kg of single bulbs from each treatment were stored in common burlap bags and kept under normal storage conditions (25±2° c and 65% +5 R.H.) were taken to determine: 1. Weight Loss (%) after 3, 6 and 9 months. 2. Rotting Infection (%). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS:

All recorded data were statistically analyzed for variances according to the methods described by Little and Hills (1975). Duncan multiple range test at level of 5% was used for the comparison among treatments means (Duncan, 1955). by using MSTAT software. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Vegetative growth characters

Data presented in Table (5) show that, plant height of onion was significantly affected by the application of growth stimulants in the first season but there is no significant differences between growth stimulants, while in the second season it showed significant difference between treatments; the highest values were recorded by seaweed in both seasons (78.19) and (80.63). Leaf-blades length was increased because of growth stimulants compared to the control in both seasons. There were significant differences between treatments in the first season with the highest value recorded by carboxylic acids (76.5), while the difference between growth stimulants was not significant in the second season and potassium treatment gave the highest value (70.27). for leaf-blades diameter, there were no significant differences between growth stimulants and control treatment in the first season while in the second season the difference was significant, and the application of amino acids gave the highest value (2.39 cm). The fresh weight of onion was increased as a result of treatments compared to the control in both seasons, amino acids gave the highest value (98.33 g.), while in the second season, the increase was not significant between growth stimulants, the application of carboxylic acids gave the highest value (83 g.). Plant dry weight and No. of leaves per plant, showed insignificant differences between all treatments in both seasons (Table 5).

The stimulating effect of seaweed application on vegetative growth bulbs may be because of the seaweed extract contains auxins, cytokinins, elements (S, I, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn) and amino acids (Challen, and Hemingway, 1965). The enhanced plant growth effects

Table 5: Effect of foliar applica on of some growth s mula ons on vegeta ve traits of onion during 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons

Treatments

Plant height (cm)

Leaf-blades length (cm)

Leaf-blades diameter (cm)

No. of Leaves /plant

Plant fresh weight (g)

Plant dry weight (g)

1st season

2nd season

1st Season

2nd season

1st season

2nd season

1st season

2nd season

1st season

2nd season

1st season

2nd season

Seaweed 78.19 a80.63 a70.44 ab69.93 a 2.01 a 2.24 ab 7.73 a 8.07 a 87.00 b 78.33 a 7.53 a 6.17 a Chitosan 76.88 a74.10 b68.20 b 66.10 a 1.69 a 2.03 bc 7.13 a 7.20 a 82.67 b 69.00 ab 7.72 a 5.94 a

Amino acids 76.08 a74.37 b72.47 ab68.47 a 1.99 a 2.39 a 7.80 a 7.33 a 98.33 a 81.33 a 8.56 a 6.03 a Carboxylic acids 74.80 a74.47 b76.50 a 66.33 a 2.01 a 2.24 ab 6.80 a 7.87 a 85.00 b 83.00 a 8.04 a 6.38 a

Potassium 73.30 a77.33 ab70.80 ab70.27 a 1.88 a 2.15 ab 7.27 a 6.93 a 85.67 b 76.67 a 7.62 a 7.35 a Silicon 77.23 a76.03 ab70.67 ab69.47 a 2.07 a 2.13 ab 7.40 a 7.40 a 83.00 b 73.33 a 8.83 a 7.07 a Tap water 65.93 b59.40 c 53.70 c 52.50 b 2.03 a 1.81 c 6.87 a 7.60 a 55.33 c 53.33 b 7.76 a 5.43 a

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column do not significantly differ using Duncan's multiple range tests at the level of 5%.

in seaweed extract-treated plants may be affected by auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, precursors of ethylene and betaine and cytokinins which are present and potentially involved in enhancing plant growth responses (Stephen et al., 1985). In the present study, enhancement of foliage plant growth could be the result of the hormonal activity of the seaweed extract (Crouch and Staden, 1993). Also the stimulating effect of amino acids on plant growth may be due to an increase in the availability and uptake of nitrogen (Shekari and Javanmardi, 2017). Yield and its components characters

Data illustrated in Table (6) show that bulb yield of onion expressed as tonnes per feedan was increased significantly as a result of the application of growth stimulants compared to the control in both seasons. Seaweed, amino acids and potassium gave the highest significant values of bulbs yield. Our results are similar with the findings of Fawzy et al. (2012) on garlic and Hidangmayum and Sharma (2017) on onion. Concerning single bulb percentage, the chitosan and silicon treatments were significantly different from the other treatments, with values of 99.57 and 99.70 in the first season and 99.70 and 99.73 in the second season respectively, while the other treatments were insignificantly different among themselves. These results agree with those reported by Clarkson (2011) on onion. All treatments differed significantly from control treatment and Seaweed treatment gave the highest value of marketable yield in both seasons, while the control treatment gave the lowest one. For bulb fresh weight, the silicon and potassium treatments in the first season and silicon, carboxylic acids and potassium in the second season gave the highest values, however, the other treatments didn’t differ significantly from the control treatment. These results agree with those reported by Clarkson (2011) who stated that silicon improved bulb weight of onion. Concerning bulbs dry weight, some treatments had significant values compared to control treatment except the application of chitosan in the second season which gave values significantly lesser than control treatment. Silicon, potassium and carboxylic acids gave the highest values in the first season, but in the second season carboxylic acid, potassium and silicon had the highest values. These results agree with those reported by Clarkson (2011) on onion.

Table 6: Effect of foliar application of some growth stimulations on quality traits of onion bulbs during 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons

Treatments

Bulb Yield (ton/fed)

Single bulb (%)

Marketable yield

(ton/fed)

Bulb fresh weight

(g)

Bulb dry weight

(g)

Bulb Length

(cm)

Bulb diameter

(cm) Bulbing

ratio

1st season

2nd season

1st season

2nd season

1st season

2nd season

1st season

2nd Season

1st season

2nd season

1st season

2nd season

1st season

2nd season

1st season

2nd season

Seaweed 12.1a 12.1a 98.6b 98.6b 12.0a 11.9a 87.6ab83.6bc 18.0ab15.3b5.1ab 5.1a 5.3ab 4.8b 0.97a1.05abChitosan 11.9ab11.6bc99.5a 99.7a 11.8ab11.6bc86.0ab76.6bc 19.8a 14.1b5.0ab 5.0a 5.1abc5.0ab 0.99a1.00bc

Amino acids12.0a 11.9ab98.7b 98.7b 11.8ab11.7ab86.0ab80.0bc 16.5ab16.5ab5.0ab 5.1a 5.10bc5.0ab 0.98a0.98bc

Carboxylic acids 11.8ab11.5c 98.6b 98.9b 11.6ab11.4c 90.2ab101.6ab18.5a 20.3a 5.3a 5.2a 5.5ab 5.6a 0.96a0.94bc

Potassium 12.1a 12.0a 98.5b 98.8b 11.9ab11.8ab95.3a 96.6ab 18.6a 18.0ab5.2ab 5.0a 5.6a 5.7a 0.94a0.89c Silicon 11.6b 11.4c 99.7a 99.7a 11.6b 11.4c 95.6a 120.0a 18.5a 19.1ab4.9b 5.0a 5.2ab 5.2ab 0.94a0.95bcControl 10.3c 10.6d 98.5b 98.5b 10.2c 10.4d 63.6b 60.0c 11.6b16.8ab4.3c 4.3b 4.7c 3.7c 0.93a1.17a

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column do not significantly differ using Duncan's multiple range test at the level of 5%.

Data in Table (6) reveal that, the treatments increased significantly the bulb length over control treatment in both seasons. Carboxylic acid gave the highest value of bulb length in the first season, while in the second season, there were no significant differences between growth stimulants. For bulb diameter, there were no significant differences between chitosan, amino acids and the control treatment in the first season while in the second season there were significant differences between treatments and the control treatment, the application of potassium gave the highest values in both seasons (5.6 cm) and (5.7 cm) respectively. These results are in line with the findings of Hegazi et al. (2002) on aspani garlic and Awatef et al. (2015) on onion. Regarding bulbing ratio, there are no significant differences between treatments in the first season, while in the second season, the control treatment gave the highest value (1.17), although, it did not differ significantly from the control treatment, while the treatment with potassium gave the lowest value (0.89).These results may be due to the promotion effect of seaweed and silicon on yield parameters which may be due to the improvement of nutrient uptake such as N, P, K and Si as well as increase dry matter that coincides with Yanishevskaya and Yagodin (2000) on lettuce, Tesfagiorgis et al (2008) on zucchini. Chemical Composition characters

Data in Table (7) reveal that Nitrogen content in onion leaves increased significantly according to treatments in both seasons, amino acids and carboxylic acids gave the highest values, while Nitrogen content of bulbs was increased significantly compared to control treatment in the second season only where, the application of amino acids and seaweed gave the highest values. Our results coincide with those reported by Abd EL-Aal et al. (2010) on squash, Ahmed (2010) on sweet pepper, Fawzy et al. (2012) and Mobini et al. (2014) on onion and Shekari and Javanmardi (2017) on Broccoli.

The leaves content of carbohydrates was increased significantly due to the applied treatments in both seasons. Generally, carboxylic acids, amino acids, seaweed and potassium gave the highest values. While carboxylic acids, potassium and silicon gave the highest values of carbohydrates in bulbs. Some treatments such as amino acids and .

Table7: Effect of foliar applica on of some growth s mula ons on chemical composition traits of onion during 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons

Nitrogen (Leaves)

(ppm) Nitrogen

(bulbs) (ppm) Carbohydrate

s (Leaves) (ppm)

Carbohydrates (bulbs) (ppm)

Phosphorus (Leaves)

(ppm) Phosphorus

(bulbs) (ppm)

Treatments

1st seaso

n

2nd seaso

n

1st seaso

n

2nd seaso

n

1st seaso

n

2nd seaso

n

1st seaso

n

2nd seaso

n

1st seaso

n

2nd seaso

n

1st seaso

n

2nd seaso

n Seaweed 2.9

ab 2.8 ab 2.6 a 3.0 a 0.2 cd 0.3 a 0.26

ab 0.25 c 0.2 c 0.19 c 0.14 a

0.14 a

Chitosan 2.7 bc

2.7 ab 2.6 a 2.6

bc 0.19 cd 0.24 b 0.15 d 0.22 d 0.37

ab 0.3 a 0.17 a

0.19 a

Amino cids 3.1 a 3. 0 a 2.8 a 3.4 a 0.31

ab 0.3 a 0.18 d 0.29 ab

0.39 a

0.28 ab

0.20 a

0.19 a

Carboxylic acids 2.9 a 2.9 a 2.5 a 2.9

ab 0.36 a 0.31 a 0.33 a 0.33 a 0.31 ab

0.26 ab

0.12 a

0.16 a

Potassium 2.5 c 2.6 ab 2.7 a 2.1 d 0.31

ab 0.21 c 0.32 a 0.32 a 0.28 bc

0.23 b

0.15 a

0.15 a

Silicon 2.6 bc 2.4 b 2.6 a 2.8

bc 0.27 bc

0.28 ab

0.24 ab 0.33 a 0.29

bc 0.26 ab

0.17 a

0.18 a

Tap water 2.4 c 2.4 b 2.6 a 2.1 c 0.15 d 0.21 c 0.24 ab

0.26 bc

0.29 bc

0.28 ab

0.12 a

0.13 a

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column do not significantly differ using Duncan's multiple range test at the level of 5%. chitosan gave lesser values than the control treatment in the second season. Chitosan, amino acids and carboxylic acids gave the highest values of phosphorus content in leaves in the first season, although, some treatments gave values didn’t differ significantly than the control treatment. In the second season there were no significant differences between all treatments. For potassium content in leaves, the application of Potassium gave the highest values followed by silicon treatment in both seasons (Table 8). Regarding potassium content of bulbs, the application of Potassium gave the highest value in both seasons. These results were in line with the finding of Awatef et al. (2015) on onion but disagree with those reported by Abd EL-Aal et al. (2010) on squash and Ahmed (2010) on sweet pepper. Concerning silicon content in leaves, the application of silicon gave the highest values in both seasons, while the applications of potassium and silicon gave the highest value in both seasons for silicon content in bulbs. These results agree with the finding of Bacchus (2010) on lettuce and Cheng Hua et al. (2011) on tomato. The promotion effect of silicon on quality parameters of onion may be due to improved nutrient uptake (Tesfagiorgis et al., (2008) on zucchini plants and Bacchus, (2010) on lettuce). The positive effect of amino acids application on N% and P% of onion bulbs may be due to the increase of protein and Nitrogen uptake (Fawzyet al., (2012) on garlic and Shekari and Javanmardi (2017) on Broccoli). Regarding the TSS content, data in Table (8) reveal that there are significant differences between some growth stimulants and control treatment in the first season, however, some treatments didn’t differ significantly from the control. The application of amino acids gave the highest values of TSS in both seasons respectively. However, in the second season, there were no significant differences between all treatments. These results coincide with those reported by Al-said et al. (2008) on sweet pepper and Abd EL-Aal et al. (2010) on squash and disagree with the findings of Abdel_Mawgoud et al. (2010) on water melon and Ghoname et al. (2010) on sweet pepper. The promotion effect of silicon on quality parameters of onion may be due to improved nutrient uptake

Table 8: Effect of foliar applica on of some growth s mula ons on chemical composi on traits of onion during 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons

Potassium (leaves)

(ppm) Potassium (Bulbs)

(ppm) Silicon (leaves)

(ppm) Silicon (Bulbs)

(ppm) TSS (%)

Treatments 1st season

2nd season

1st season

2nd season

1st season

2nd season

1st season

2nd season

1st season

2nd season

Seaweed 1.98 c 2.2 d 1.5 b 1.53 c 0.28 b 0.28 b 0.29 ab 0.29 ab 11.33 ab

10.83 a

Chitosan 3.97 b 3.52 c 1.35 b 1.4 c 0.25 d 0.24 d 0.3 a 0.29 ab 12.00 ab

12.67 a

Amino acids 2.61 c 3.3 c 1.4 b 1.6 bc 0.26 cd 0.26 cd 0.29 ab 0.29 ab 12.84 a 13.00

a Carboxylic acids 2.35 c 2.23 d 1.56 b 2.1 b 0.27 c 0.27 c 0.29 ab 0.29 ab 11.17 10.83

ab a Potassium 5.4 a 5.17 a 2.35 a 3.39 a 0.26 c 0.29 b 0.3 a 0.3 a 11.00

ab 11.00

a Silicon 4.76 a 4.6 b 1.5 b 1.7 bc 0.31 a 0.32 a 0.3 a 0.3 a 11.83

ab 10.17

a control 3.9 b 4.5 b 1.3 b 1.8 bc 0.26 cd 0.25 d 0.28 b 0.28 b 10.33 b 10.33

a Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column do not significantly differ using Duncan's multiple range test at the level of 5%. Storability characters:

Data in Table (9) and Figures 1&2show that the application of chitosan followed by silicon treatments were the most superior .

Table 9: Effect of foliar applica on of some growth s mula ons on yield and storage traits of onion during 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons

Weight loss (%)

(3 months)

Weight loss (%)

(6 months)

Weight loss (%) (9 months) Rotting (%)

Treatments 1st season

2nd

season

1st seaso

n

2nd

season 1st

season 2nd

season 1st

season2nd season

Seaweed 18.93 ab

17.63 b 24.67 a

25.47 a 33.10 a 31.70 bc

5.0 b 4.9 b

Chitosan 15.27 d

14.27 d 20.53 c

20.50 e 25.77 d 25.83 f 5.0 b 4.9 b

Amino acids 18.53 b

18.33 a 24.40 a

25.27 a 33.30 a 32.17 ab

5.0 b 4.7 b

Carboxylic acids

16.73 c 16.27 c 21.43 b

22.63 c 30.20 b 30.57 d 5.2 ab

5.0 b

Potassium 18.60 ab

17.60 b 25.13 a

24.47 b 32.97 a 32.47 a 5.1 ab

5.1 ab

Silicon 16.40 c 16.00 c 22.00 b

21.50 d 29.00 c 28.80 e 4.9 b 4.6 b

Control 19.03 a 18.53 a 25.13 a

24.43 b 32.87 a 31.03 cd

5.6 a 5.7 a

Means followed by the same letter(s) within each column do not significantly differ using Duncan's multiple range tests at the level of 5%.

Figure 1:Effect of foliar application of some growth stimulations on weight loss (%) of onion bulbs during 2013/2014 season.

Figure 2: Effect of foliar application of some

growth stimulations on weight loss (%) of onion bulbs during 2014/2015 season.

Figure3:Effect of foliar application of some growth stimulations on rotting (%) of onion

bulbs during 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 seasons. Treatments, as they gave the lowest significant values of weight loss in both

seasons. These results agree with those obtained by Abdel_Mawgoud et al. (2010) on watermelon. The stimulation effect of chitosan on storability of onion bulbs may be due to that, chitosan forms a film on the surface of the bulbs which regulates the exchange of gases and hence reduces the transpiration, bulb ripening and water loss (Shehata et al. 2012). Also, the positive effect of chitosan on storability characters may be due to the increased acidity and total sugars as found in strawberry (Abdel-Mawgoud, et al. 2010) and sweet pepper (Ghoname, et al. 2010). In addition, chitosan

gave high values of TSS (%) Data in Table (9) and Figure 3, show that, silicon treatment was the only significant treatment compared to the control with values of 4.97 % and 4.67 % in both seasons, respectively; the other treatments did not differ significantly from control treatment as well as from each other. Our results are similar to those obtained by Takeshi et al. (2006) on strawberry, Bucchus (2010) on lettuce, Cheng et al. (2011) on tomato and Khalifa et al. (2017) on onion. The silicon was reported to improve the resistance to pests, disease, and other environmental stresses (Bucchus, 2010). The stimulation effect of chitosan application on storability of onion bulbs may be due to that chitosan forms a semipermeable film that regulates the gas exchange and reduces transpiration. CONCLUSION:

This study demonstrated that the growth stimulants (seaweed extract, chitosan, amino acids, carboxylic acids, potassium and silicon) induced positive effects on growth, productivity, bulbs quality and storability of onion. Foliar application of carboxylic acid (8 ml /l) and silicon (8 ml /l), led to improve total yield and bulb quality of onion, while foliar application of silicon and chitosan (2 ml/l) were the best for bulbs storability. As well as, spraying seaweed extracts (2 ml/l) and amino acid (1 ml/l) improved vegetative growth of onion plants. REFERENCES

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