Response ofCabbage Varieties( Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.) to Folia Spray ofCompost extract (date palm leaves) and It,s Effects on Leaves Content of N and K, Yield and Quality Characteristics ofheads

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in two locations, the Al-Mahanawyie district/ Abo-Gharaq in the province ofBabylon and in Al-Sahla district/Kufa in the province ofAl Najaf Alashraf in the growing season of2012-2013 to study the response ofthree cabbage cultivars to spraying with compost extract ofdate palm leaves. The experiment included 12 treatments due to the interaction between three cultivars ofcabbage (Copenhagen Market , Ruby Perfection and Tropicana) and four concentration 0, 25, 50 and 75 ml.L -1 oforganic fertilizer extracts. The experiment was Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications .Results can be summarized as following :Results showed that cv. "Tropicana " had significantly the highest plant leaf number, leaves content ofN, head weight, total productivity and head quality characteristics (protein and carbohydrate percentages), while "Copenhagen Market" cv. was significantly eminent in terms of K percentage only compared to cv. "Ruby Perfection" which gave the lowest values for the above characteristics. Spraying results revealed that all concentrations ofcompost extract had significant effects on the above characteristics compared to spraying with distilled water which gave the lowest values. Interaction between cv. and spraying with compost extract showed in significant where (50 ml.L-1 with Tropicana) resulted in the highest values ofplant leaf number, leaves content ofN, head weight, total productivity and head quality characteristics protein and carbohydrate percentages 66.87,67.39 leaf plant-1 and 4.07% and 2.83,0.97 kg and 47.41, 26.90 Ton.h-1 and 25.50,23.58% and 2.88,2.76%for both locations, respectively except percentage ofN that was the highest in location 2, the interaction of(50 ml.L-1 ×Copenhagen Market) had significantly the highest percentage ofK(3.90,3.84%) for both locations,respectively compared to interaction of(distilled water with Ruby Perfection) which gave the lowest values ofplant leaf number, leaves content ofN, leaves content ofK, head weight, total productivity and head quality characteristics protein and carbohydrate percentages 44.87,40.42 leaf plant-1 and 2.22,1.47% and 2.45, 2.27% and 1.55,0.22 kg and 23.96,16.61 Ton.h-1 and 15.61,14.19% and 1.72,1.56% for both locations, respectively.