Effect of different planting dates and organic fertilizers treatments on growth and yield of hibiscus sabdariffa L. plants

Abstract EN

This research was conducted at the El-Qantara Sharq Research Station, Desert Research Center, during two successive summer seasons of 2013 and 2014 to study the effect of planting dates (15th April, 1st May and 15th May) and organic fertilization treatments (control, 15 m3/ feddan cattle manure, 15 m3/ feddan compost and a mixture of organic fertilizers [15 m3/ feddan compost + 15 m3/ feddan cattle manure]) on growth, yield and active ingredients of Hibiscus sabdariffa L.

plants.

Early planting date (15th April) resulted in significant increase in all growth characters, while delaying the planting dates decreased it in both seasons.

The application of organic fertilizers produced the highest value in all growth characters during the two experimental seasons, while the treatment of mixed organic fertilizer significantly increased vegetative growth parameters, chemical ingredients and the chemical constituents.

The interaction between planting dates and organic fertilization show that, the treatment of cultivation date on 15th April and fertilization with mixed organic fertilizer significantly increased most of the studied characters, however this treatment gave the maximum sepals per plant and per feddan, yield of seeds per plant and per feddan, the anthocyanins content and fixed oil content in seeds compared with the other treatments