Effect of Foliar Application of Nano-Fertilizer, Putrescine, and Plant Growth Regulators on Some Vegetative and Chemical Traits of Grafted Apricot (prunus armeniaca L.) Seedlings

• Alaa Waleed Abdul Al-Kadhim¹ Hadi Kadhim Al-Jubouri²

  Author

This study was conducted in the wooden shade house of the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering, College of Agriculture, Al-Qasim Green University, during the period from 15 March 2025 to 15 January 2026. The experiment was carried out on seven-month-old apricot seedlings grafted on to seedling peach rootstock to investigate the effect of foliar application of plant growth regulators at four levels (0, NAA 75 mg L⁻¹, cytokinin 100 mg L⁻¹, and NAA 75 mg L⁻¹ + cytokinin 100 mg L⁻¹). The second factor included (0, Nano-fertilizer 1.5 g L⁻¹, and putrescine 100 mg L⁻¹). Their interaction effects on vegetative growth and chemical characteristics of apricot seedlings were evaluated.

The experiment was arranged as a factorial trial (4 × 3) according to a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The results indicated that the application of the studied treatments, whether individually or in combination, significantly increased vegetative growth parameters, including seedling height, number of leaves, leaf area, and number of branches. Regarding chemical characteristics, treatments with plant growth regulators significantly enhanced most traits, except nitrogen content. Moreover, all chemical parameters recorded their highest values under the application of nano-fertilizer at 1.5 g L⁻¹ and putrescine at 100 mg L⁻¹ compared with the control treatment.

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