Williams Banana Growth, Nutritional Status, Yield and Fruit Quality as Influenced by Spraying Humic Acid and Seaweed Extract

Abstract

In order to study the response of Williams banana plant (Musa spp .) to spraying with humic acid (potassium humate) at 0.5%, 1% & 2% and seaweed at 0.25%, 0.50% & 0.75% three times yearly, a field experiment was conducted during 2018 and 2019 seasons at private orchard situated at Saft Al-Laban village El- Minia Governorate, Egypt, where the soil is silty clay loam. The obtained results confirmed that spraying Williams banana plants with humic acid at 0.5%, to 2.0% and seaweed at 0.25% to 0.75% significantly improved vegetative growth (in terms of pseudostem length, pseudostem girth, number of leaves/plant and leaf area), leaves chemical constituents (i.e. nitrogen%, phosphorus%, potassium%, and magnesium%), bunch weigh (kg)/plant, finger weight, as well as fruit physical and chemical properties (i.e. fruit weight, fruit dimension, pulp/peel ratio, TSS%, total sugars and total acidity%) compared to control plants. The combined spraying of humic acid and seaweed shows more effective in all studied characteristics than using each compound alone. The best results in the abovementioned parameters were observed in spraying humic acid and seaweed extract in combination at higher concentrations. However, non-significant differences were observed between the higher concentrations, neither for humic acid nor for seaweed extract. The results of the present study confirmed that important role of humic acid and seaweed extract in improving growth parameters, leaves chemical composition, yield, and fruit physical and chemical properties of Williams banana grown in silty clay loam soil under arid conditions.