Response of Ruellia simplex plants grown under water intervals and anti-transpirant treatments

Abstract

Ruellia is herbaceous perennials are described as colorful groundcovers and it is very popular landscape plant cuttings of Ruellia plant were planted in pots. In the National Research Centre's greenhouse in Dokki, Giza, Egypt. A pot experiment was conducted in July 2020 and 2022 to examine the influence of KCl spraying and duration of irrigation on Ruellia plant growth and chemical contents. The current study compares the growth parameters of plants treated with KCl in three sprays at concentrations (0, 50 and 100 ppm) and water regime (3, 6 and 9 days) to those of control plants. However, increasing irrigation intervals for Ruellia plants there had no significant on growth parameters (plant height, branches number, root length, stem diameter and fresh and dry weight of shoots), while increasing irrigation intervals from 3days up to 9 days, increased flower number and delayed flowering. In addition, it is evident that N% was the highest by increasing irrigation intervals up to 9 days while P% showed a constant content, however the lower N% was recorded with the low irrigation intervals. Carbohydrate % as well as protein and photosynthetic pigments saved the same trend percentage. It can be concluded that, the increasing KCl concentration level up to 100 ppm caused an increase in previous mentioned vegetative growth parameters, flower number, flowering date, and chemical constituents (total chlorophyll, carbohydrate, protein%, carotenoids and mineral elements (N, P and K) concentrations compared with control and other KCl treatments. The purpose of this study is to learn more about the effects of KCl and water intervals on plant development and chemical components.