Effect of Foliar Spray with Calcium and some Antioxidants on Growth, Yield and Yield Quality of Potato

Abstract

Two field trials were conducted on potato plants cv. Spunta, in the vegetable private farm at Kafr Meet Faris, Dakahlia Governorate, during two winter seasons of 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 to study the influence of foliar spray with calcium (0, 1000, 1500 and 2000 ppm) and some antioxidants (control, Ascorbic acid at 300 ppm, boric acid at 100 ppm and Salicylic acid at 50 ppm) in additions to their interaction on plant growth, yield and its components as well as chemical constituents in tuber.In general, all the studied characteristics were better in plants sprayed calcium compared with the control treatment. Plant length, number of main stems/plant, number of leaves/plant, leaf area and foliage dry weight/plant, total tubers yield, marketable tubers yield, tuber dry weight, the tuber content of N, P, K, starch and TSS were increased with increasing calcium level up to 2000 ppm.Foliar spray with antioxidants led to significant increases of the vegetative growth characteristics and enhanced total yield and its components as well as chemical constituents in tuber. Foliar spray with boric acid at 100 ppm have the highest records in all studied characteristics followed by Salicylic acid in both seasons.The positive interactions between foliar spray calcium levels and foliar spray with antioxidants were often observed.The best results were obtained by plants sprayed calcium at the level of 2000 ppm and boric acid followed by Salicylic acid.Therefore, this treatment could be recommended for raising potato yield and improving tuber quality of potato under such conditions of this study.