Effect of Foliar Spray of Salicylic Acid on some morphological and productivity characteristics of Tow Strawberry Cultivars under Water Stress Conditions

Abstract

The research was carried out in the farm of Abu Jarash, Faculty of Agriculture - Damascus University, and the chemical analyzsis wwas conducted in the laboratories of the Faculty of Agriculture, Damascus University, and the laboratories of the National commission for Biotechnology (NCBT(. The cultivation was carried out for three consecutive seasons 2018-2019-2020, to study the effect of foliar spraying with five concentrations of salicylic acid  (0, 0.12, 0.25, 0.5, 1 Mm), and three levels of irrigation (100, 75 and 50% of the field capacity on some morphological and productivity characteristics of two strawberry hybrids “Festival and Camarosa”.

The decrease in the amount of irrigation water led to a decrease in the plant growth parameters (number of leaves, leaf area and number of runners), as the leaf area decreased in both hybrids, at irrigation level 50% (18.38 and 14.77 cm2, respectively) compared with the control (35.04 and 31.41 cm2, respectively). The plant productivity also decreased at irrigation level of 75 and 50% in the hybrid Festival by 33.88 and 58.02%, respectively, and in the hybrid Camarosa by 74.25 and 32.40%, respectively, compared to the corresponding control for each hybrid (558.34 and 473.39 g/plant, respectively). Foliar spraying with salicylic acid improved the tolerance of strawberry plants to water stress. Vegetative growth increased (number of leaves, leaf area, number of runners). In addition, foliar spraying with salicylic acid, when the irrigation level was reduced to 75% and 50%, improved productivity in both hybrids, “Festival and Camarosa”, by 1.4 and 1.3 times compared to the untreated plants (318.05 and 267.65 g/plant, respectively).