EFFECT OF ACTOSOL (HUMIC ACID), KRISTALON AND MAGNETIC IRON ON FLOWERING AND BULBS PRODUCTIVITY OF IRIS TINGITANA CV. WEDGEWOOD UNDER DIFFERENT STORAGE CONDITIONS

In a trial to solve some of the most important problems facing the production and quality of Iris tingitana cv. Wedgewood plant under local conditions in Egypt including the short and late blooming season in spring. Moreover, the study aimed also to solve the problem of the deterioration of bulbs productivity year after year. So, two separate field experiments were conducted throughout two successive seasons (2017/2018 and 2018/2019) at the nursery of Horticulture Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Giza, Egypt. In the first experiment, bulbs of 8-9 cm circumference were treated with different types of storage treatments pre-planting (room temperature, cold storage at 5 °C for 3 and 6 weeks (main factor), besides, some soil additives (sub factor) of kristalon and magnetic iron at 2 g/pot, as a soil dressing and actosol at 5 ml/1 as a soil drench for 6 times throughout the growth cycle at open field conditions. While, in the second experiment, bulblets of 5-6 cm circumference, were treated with the same soil additives, besides the same storage treatments. Results showed that cooling the bulbs for 3 weeks proved its mastery in improving most plant traits comparing with other storage treatments (experiment 1). The registered values indicated the prevalence of storage the bulblets pre-planting at cold storage condition for 3 weeks in giving the utmost highest values of number of bulbs/plot (bulbs yield), followed in the second rank of bulblets stored at room temperature (experiment 2). On other side, the different soil additives were differed in their effects in improving plant traits, where the best treatment was a result of applying kristalon treatment followed in the second category with actosol (experiments 1 and 2). A negligible effect was observed regarding chemical constituents in the two experiments. From the aforementioned results, it could be recommended to use the different types of storage treatments for prolonging the flowering season. Besides, supplying plants with kristalon or actosol in some instances for achieving the hope of obtaining Iris tingitana flowers of high quality throughout a pronounced prolongation of the flowering season and high yields of bulbs resulted from bulblets.