Response of Schefflera actinophylla Plants Grown under Drought to Soil Compost Addition and Foliar Application of Melatonin | ||||
| Journal of Plant Production | ||||
| Article 8, Volume 14, Issue 11, November 2023, Page 359-367 PDF (831.06 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jpp.2023.249013.1288 | ||||
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| Authors | ||||
W. M. F. Abd–Elhady1; A. G. Badour2; mohamed atef El-Sherpiny  2
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| 1Ornamental Plants and Landscape Gardening Research Department, Horticultural Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Giza, Egypt | ||||
| 2Soil Fertility & Plant Nutation Research Department, Soil, Water and Environment Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, El-Gama St., Giza, 12619 Egypt | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| The provision of irrigation water has become crucial, especially for ornamental plants, due to Egypt's demanding water conditions. The use of inexpensive soil amendments i.e., compost and the application of a newly discovered molecule "melatonin" can mitigate the negative effects of water scarcity. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of combining compost with melatonin in alleviating the adverse effects of water deficit on Schefflera actinophylla L plants. Different irrigation regimes i.e., irrigation every 5 (I1), 7 (I2) and 10 (I3) days were evaluated as the main factor. The final composition of the pots, consisting of compost and sand, with options including 1:3 compost: sand mixtures v/v (C1), 1:1 compost: sand mixtures v/v (C2) and 3:1 compost: sand mixtures v/v (C3) was investigated as a secondary factor. In addition, the application of melatonin by spraying at concentrations of zero (F1) and 100 μM (F2) was investigated as a tertiary factor. Plant performance decreased with increasing irrigation intervals. Furthermore, plants grown in pots containing 75%compost+25% sand (C3) showed the best performance followed by the C2 treatment and finally the C1 treatment. Moreover, the application of melatonin led to an increase in all the growth and chemical characteristics studied, as well as in the levels of antioxidant, except for malondialdehyde, which decreased compared to the untreated plants. On another note, the plant performance was better under combined treatments of I2xC2 (or C3) xF2 than that under combined treatments of I1xC1xF1. Finally, these results confirm the potential role of compost and melatonin in mitigating the adverse effects of water deficit. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| Water deficit; compost; melatonin | ||||
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