The effect of spraying with natural organic fertilizer and balanced nano-NPK fertilizer on the phenotypic traits of Brassica oleracea var. Italica

• Israa Hadi Zaidan & Abrar Akeel Naser

  Author

A field experiment was conducted during the 2025 growing season at the Horticulture and Garden Engineering Station, College of Agriculture, University of Tikrit, to study the response of broccoli plants (Brassica oleracea var. Italica) to foliar spraying with balanced nano-fertilizer N20 P20 K20 (at three concentrations: 0, 2, 3 mg.L⁻¹) and foliar spraying with bio-manufactured natural organic fertilizer (Bacteria-Yest Plus) (at three concentrations: 0, 5, 10 ml.L⁻¹), as well as their interaction on vegetative growth and yield traits. The experiment was designed as a factorial (3 × 9) according to a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The results showed significant variation in plant response. The control treatment (without nano-fertilizer) outperformed in leaf area and shoot dry weight, recording (54.06 cm² and 0.21 g), respectively. The nano-fertilizer at 2 mg.L⁻¹ achieved a significant superiority in root dry weight (0.12 g) and the highest total yield per plant (69.47 g.plant⁻¹), while the 3 mg.L⁻¹ concentration recorded the highest mean yield per plant (1.55 kg.plant⁻¹). Regarding the natural organic fertilizer, the 5 ml.L⁻¹ concentration achieved the highest mean leaf area (58.54 cm²), plant dry weight (0.33 g), and yield per plant (1.59 kg.plant⁻¹), while the 10 ml.L⁻¹ concentration outperformed in total yield per plant (69.81 g.plant⁻¹). Concerning the two-way interaction, the treatment (2 mg.L⁻¹ nano + 5 ml.L⁻¹ organic) was distinguished by recording the highest leaf area (64.80 cm²), and the interaction treatment (3 mg.L⁻¹ nano + 5 ml.L⁻¹ organic) significantly outperformed in achieving the highest total yield per plant (74.71 g.plant⁻¹) and the highest yield per plant (1.80 kg.plant⁻¹).