Effect of seaweed extracts on the growth and flowering of Statice plant ( Limonium sinuatum) growing in saline soil

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in lathhouse of the Department of Plant Production Technologies/Al-Musayyib Technical College for autumn season of 2022 and the spring season of 2023 to study the effect of the plant Statis, Limonium sinuatum good uniformity, and seaweed extracts in the bioremediation of saline soils. Plastic pots with a diameter of 27 cm were used filled with an agricultural medium composed of river soil. + Compost (palm waste) in a ratio of 1:3 . The experiment included two factors. The first factor used seaweed extracts and is symbolized by the symbol ((B). It included three levels: without addition (the control treatment) and symbolized by B0 and B1. Spraying at a concentration of 1 g.L^-1 and B2. Spraying at a concentration of 2 g. L^-1. As for the second factor, it includes salinity and is symbolized by the symbol (S). It has four levels S0: soil salted with sodium chloride at a concentration of 3 dS.m^-1 (comparison treatment) and S1, salted soil at a concentration of 5 dS.m^-1. S2 is salted soil with a concentration of 7 dS.m^-1and S3 is salted soil with a concentration of 9 ds.m^-1.The experiment was conducted as a factorial experiment according to a completely randomized design (C.R.D) with three replications, and the means were compared according to the least significant difference (L.S.D) test under the probability level of 0.05.The results were as follows: The triple interaction treatment between the study factors resulted in a significant increase in the studied traits. The interaction treatment (S0B2) outperformed the rest of the other interaction treatments and gave the highest values for the traits of plant height, chlorophyll, number of flowering stalks, vase life , carotene pigment, and proline. Compared to the no-additive treatment of seaweed extracts, salinity caused a significant reduction in the studied traits.