Promote the Quantitative and Qualitative Production of Three Varieties of Organically Grown Beetroot

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out for autumn season 2021-2022 in the fields of the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering - College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences - University of Baghdad - Al-Jadriya Complex - Station A -To study the effect of cultivars (Red, Dark Red, and Cylindra), organic medium, vermicompost, and cow manure, as well as control treatment (soil only), and spraying with silicon, calcium, and distilled water (comparison) on the growth, yield, and quality of beetroot, within a completely randomized block design as a split-plot experiment. As the cultivars were counted as the main factor, organic medium, and foliar spraying as the secondary factor, with three replicates, the number of treatments reached 27, and the averages were compared according to the least significant difference L.S.D at the level of probability of 5% for each variety, and the results were as follows: The treatment of the triple interaction of the Dark Red cultivar with the Vermicompost planting medium and spraying with silicon was significantly excelled by giving it the highest percentages of the nutrients N, P, and K, as well as the concentration of the element Si in the roots of the beetroot plant, at a rate of (3.53%, 0.48%, 4.07%, and 387.67 mg L-1), respectively. While the treatment V2×F2×S2 was significantly excelled in the percentage of calcium, as it gave 2.19%. The triple interaction treatment of Cylindra cultivar and Vermicompost medium with silicone spraying were significantly excelled in (plant height, blade diameter, number of leaves and percentage of fibers), as it gave (58.56 cm, 11.00 mm, 13.55 leaf-1 and 4.01%), respectively. While the treatment of Dark Red cultivar and Vermicompost media with silicone spray 2V×F1×S2 excelled by giving it the highest root weight and the highest percentage of dry matter (387.97 g root-1 and 9.00%), respectively.