EFFECT OF GROWING MEDIA, TYPES OF FERTILIZATION AND THEIR INTERACTIONS ON GROWTH, FLOWERING, BULBS PRODUCTIVITY AND SOME CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF IRIS TINGITANA CV. GOLDEN BEAUTY

The present experiment was conducted at the nursery of Horticulture Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Giza, Egypt, throughout two successive seasons (2018/2019, 2019/2020), with the aim to study the individual as well as the combined effects of different growing media [sand, mixture of sand + clay (1:1, v/v) and mixture of sand + compost (1:1, v/v)] and different types of fertilization treatments (bio and chemical fertilizers) for achieving the hope of producing Iris tingitana cv. Golden Beauty bulbs and flowers of high quality under Egyptian condition. The results emphasized the great influence of sand + clay mixture (1:1, v/v) in improving most vegetative growth parameters. Moreover, the earliest bulbs flowering with significant effect were obtained as a result of plants grown in the same mixture. Also, the same mixture gave the largest flower diameter and succeeded to increase flower stem length, flower stem diameter and fresh weight of flower stem. Insignificant effects were observed on either circumference or fresh weight of the replace bulb due to using the different growing media in plantation. Also, the same effect was noticed on No. of bulblets/plot (bulblets yield) and fresh weight of bulblet. Chemical constituents of the new formed bulbs were also affected by the different growing media in which great influence was noticed due to using the mixture of sand + clay. Referring to the effect of the different fertilizer treatments on plant traits, kristalon proved its mastery in improving most plant traits in both seasons comparing with that obtained from amino acid of argenine at either the levels of 50 ppm or 75 ppm, which occupied the second rank in improving plant quality in this respect. From the aforementioned results, it could be recommended to plant Iris tingitana cv. Golden Beauty in the mixture of sand + clay (1:1, v/v) with treating plants with kristalon at 2 g/l and applying amino acid (argenine at 75 ppm) in some instances