Response of Rooted Simmondsia chinensis Cuttings to Foliar Fertilizers at Different Times of Year under Green-and-Shade House Conditions

Abstract

The importance of jojoba plants comes due to its multi uses and unique features. It is a desert plant, drought tolerant, salty resistant and adapts well in different types of soil. Jojoba plants produce liquid wax which meets global demand owing to its use in cosmetics and other important aspects of life. Production of high quantities of the jojoba liquid wax needs elite and active plants in the growth. Thus, the objective of these present investigations was to study the effect of fertilizers and time of spray on the vegetative growth of rooted jojoba cuttings. Two experiments were conducted in the greenhouse and shade house using rooted jojoba cuttings and different types of fertilizers such as macronutrients and micronutrients additional to some of sea algae extract either individually or in combinations at four times of year with 30 day intervals under greenhouse and shade house conditions. The results pointed out significant effect by the spray of micronutrient fertilizers compared to other type of fertilizers in both greenhouse and shade house in terms of height of plant and number of shoots and leaves per plant. The fourth spray of fertilizers gave the highest values of the different parameters studied. The interaction between time of spray and type of fertilizers did not differ significantly. Greenhouse condition was more favorable for growth of jojoba rooted cuttings than shade house. This study created an importance of foliar fertilization of jojoba plants by micronutrient fertilizers.