Effect of irrigation with saline magnetic water on controlling root rot and vegetative growth parameters of apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) seedlings.

M.A. Radwan *, Y.I EL- Naggar**and T.A. Eid***

Abstract

Root rot resulted in mass mortality of young seedlings of commercial apricot seedlings in nursery. The most frequently isolated and the most pathogenic fungi were Fusarium solani and Lasiodiplodia theobromae (syn. Botryodiplodia theobromae). Saline water from local wells is the alternative source to fresh Nile water for irrigating crops in reclaiming area of the desert. In pots experiment under greenhouse conditions in 2014 and 2015 seasons, seedlings which were irrigated with saline water were more severely diseased than those irrigated with fresh Nile water (270 mg/L). Increasing irrigation-water salinity from 1000 to 2000 mg/L significantly increased mortality in apricot seedlings and reduced plant height, leaves number, dry weight and leaf area of non-inoculated and inoculated seedlings. Alleviating such problem of saline irrigating water requires more ways to use available water resources such as using a technique of magnetic treatment. Magnetized saline irrigating water decreased root rot disease and increased plant height, leaves number, dry weight and leaf area of non-inoculated and inoculated apricot seedlings in the two seasons. The lowest disease incidence and the highest growth parameters were recorded in case of treating seedlings with Topsin- M70 combined with magnetic saline water and the efficiency of Topsin- M70 decreased with the increasing of salt water concentrations.

Key words

apricot, saline irrigating water, magnetic technology, root rot and vegetative growth.