EFFECT OF SOWING DATES, FOLIAR X AS BALANCED COMPOUND FERTILIZER ON YIELD AND ITS COMPONENTS OF SOME FLAX VARIETIES IN SANDY SOIL

Abstract

Two field experiments were conducted at Ismailia Agric. Res. Station Farm, Ismailia Governorate, A.R.C. Egypt, during winter seasons of 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 to study the performance of three flax genotypes namely Sakha 3, Sakha 4 and Giza 10 under three sowing dates i.e. 1th November, 10 November and 20 November, also Foliar X as balance compound fertilizer using split-split plot design. Results showed that Giza 10 surpassed all other tested varieties in plant height, technical length, seed yield / plant and per faddan, straw yield / fad., fiber yield plant and per faddan and number of capsules/ plant when sown at 1 November and using Foliar X. Sakha 3 flax variety take the second rank for straw yield and its related characters, meanwhile Sakha 4 for seed yield and its related characters. The greatest yield of straw, fiber and seed per faddan were achieved when sowing flax plants in 1 November with Foliar X as mixture of nutrients. There was highly significant and positively correlation between straw yield / fad. and each of fiber yield / plant, fiber yield / fad., straw yield / plant and plant height. Seed yield / fad. appeared to be more related with seed yield / plant, number of capsules / plant and technical length. Also fiber yield / fad. was significantly correlated with each of fiber yield / plant, straw yield / fad., straw yield/ plant and plant height. Path coefficient analysis revealed that fiber yield / plant, plant height and straw yield / fad. has the most prominent direct effects on fiber yield / fad as first important factor with relative importance of 30.4%, 18.4% and 16.5%, respectively of the total variation of fiber yield / fad. The second path coefficient analysis showed that seed yield / plant, number of capsules / plant and technical length had the most prominent direct effect on seed yield / fad with relative importance of 30.2%, 28.9% and 26.3% respectively of the total variation of seed yield / faddan.