Effect of sheep manure and sulfur on growth and yield of potato under saline conditions

Author : Mohamed M. El-Mesairy; Mansour E. Ramadan and Osama A. Shalaby

Environmental stresses in arid and semi-arid regions represent a major obstacle to agricultural development, soil and water salinity are major abiotic stress affecting horticultural crops and threatening sustainable production, An open field experiment was carried out in the experimental farm of Desert Research Center, Ras Sudr, South Sinai governorate, Egypt for two seasons (2020/2021 and 2021/2022) to investigate the effects of sheep manure and sulfur on potato plants, three levels of sheep manure, 0, 15, and 25 m3/fed, and three levels of sulfur, 0, 200, and 300 kg/fed,  all treatments were applied to the soil before planting during soil preparation. Results indicated that the application of sheep manure and sulfur, either separately or together, alleviated the adverse effects of salt stress and improved potato growth and yield parameters. However, the combined treatment of 25 m3 sheep manure/fed and 300 kg sulfur/fed resulted the maximum values of vegetative growth parameters (Plant height, stems number, leaves number, and chlorophyll). nutrients content (N, P, K, and S), yield and its components (tuber number per plant, tuber fresh and dry weight). Conclusinely, it could be concluded that sheep manure and sulfur application are an effective approach to improve the growth and yield of potato plants grown under saline conditions.

Keywords : Solanum tuberosum, salt stress, sheep manure, sulfur, potato, tuber quality, yield,

Received:10/20/2022 12:00:00 AM; Accepted: 12/19/2022 12:00:00 AM