Effect of foliar application with zinc and boron sulfate on the quality of two broccoli hybrids

Abstract

The experiment was conducted in the vegetable field/ Department of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering/ College of Agriculture and Forestry/ University of Mosul during the 2018-2019 agricultural season. To study the effect of spraying with zinc sulfate at a concentration of 300 mg. L-1 and boron at a concentration of 60 mg.L-1 and zinc + boron in addition to the control treatment (water spray only) in the productivity of two hybrids of broccoli Parasio and Danar. The experiment was designed according to the Spilt-plots-System-Split-system within the randomized complete block design (RCBD) and with three replications, and the averages were compared with Duncan's polynomial test at the probability level of 0.05. The results confirmed that the dual interaction between the Parasio hybrid and spraying with zinc + boron gave the highest percentage of dry matter in the main curd, amounting to 13.03% and the bi-interaction between the hybrid Parasio and spraying with boron gave the highest value of vitamin C content in the curd , which amounted to 75.421 mg. 100ml-1 While the interaction between Parasio hybrid and spraying with water only was significantly excelled in giving the lowest nitrate content in the main curd 15.19 mg. 100g-1 and the interaction between Parasio hybrid, spraying with boron, spraying with zinc + boron, hybrid Danar and spraying with zinc + boron gave the highest percentage of protein in the main curd 14.58, 15.46 and 14.12 %, respectively.