Effect of Irrigation Systems and Regimens on the Mineral Composition of the Leaves of Seleg Date Palm Cultivar PDF

Keywords

Date Palm, Irrigation, Water regimens, Macro, Micro-nutrient elements, Variation

Abstract

This investigation was carried out on mature Seleg date palm trees grown in the Riyadh region, Saudi Arabia, using three irrigation systems namely; basin, bubbler and trickle. Three water regimens 50, 100 and 150% of class (A) pan evaporation rate were used to study the effects of these treatments on leaf composition of some macro-nutrient elements (N, P, K, Ca, Mg and Na) and some micro-nutrient elements (Fe, Cu, Zn and Mn) during three successive years. Data indicated that, in the first year, significant differences were found only in Ca and Na leaf contents, whereas no significant differences were obtained in the other nutrient elements among the irrigation systems. The irrigation regimens did not affect the leaf contents of all determined nutrient elements. In the second year, significant differences were found regarding the leaf contents of K, Ca, Na and also the leaf contents of Cu, Zn and Mn among the irrigation systems. Concerning the irrigation regimens, the only significant difference was found in the Cu leaf content. In the third year, concentrations of N, P, K and Ca and also Cu and Mn in the leaves were significantly different among the irrigation systems. On the other hand, irrigation regimens did not affect the concentrations of both macro and micro nutrients element contents of the leaves