Relationship of Planting Dates and Spraying with Conventional and Nano NPK Fertilizer to some Secondary Metabolite Traits of Fenugreek Plant Trigonella foenum-graecum

Abstract

This study was carried out in the agricultural fields of the College of Agriculture - Karbala University for the period from October of the year 2021 AD until May of the year 2022 AD, The study included two factors, the first was the cultivation of fenugreek seeds on three loops (20/10/2021) (10/11/2021) (30/11/2021) and the second factor was the use of conventional and nano fertilizer NPK by spraying on the leaves with five combinations, including the comparison treatment (Distilled water only, 1g.L-1 neutralized conventional fertilizer, 2g.L-1 neutralized conventional fertilizer, 100ml.L-1 of nano-fertilizer, 200mlL-1 of nano-fertilizer. The treatment were distributed using a split-plot method in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications, planting dates were set in the main-plots and fertilizer combinations in the sub-plots, so the number of experimental units is 45 units, The results were analyzed statistically using the Genstst program, and the averages were tested according to the L.S.D test at a probability level of 0.05. The results showed that the third planting date was superior to the rest of the dates in trait of the percentage of protein with an average of 23.30% and the percentage of alkaloids in the leaves with an average of 2.9333%, while the comparison treatment recorded the least significant difference of 22.78% and 1.8467%, respectively, While the fertilizer treatment recorded the superiority of most of the fertilizer combinations used over the comparison treatment, the fifth combination of fertilizer used outperformed the rest of the combinations by giving it the highest rate for all the studied characteristics, including the percentage of oil in the seeds and the percentage of alkaloids in the seeds, which amounted to (5.2444% and 9.211%), respectively, While the comparison treatment recorded the lowest average of 5.1400% and 5.844% respectively, as for the treatment of overlap between the fertilizer combinations used with the planting dates, the overlap affected significantly in the treatment of the fifth combination of the second planting date in the characteristics of the secondary metabolites compounds, which are the percentage of alkaloids in the leaves and the percentage of the alkaloids in the seeds and the percentage of oil in the seeds were (2.8000%, 9.867%, and 5.2633%), respectively, While the interaction between the first date and the fertilizer combination (distilled water only) was the lowest average for all studied traits.