Effect of Phosphorus Fertilizer Sources and Foliar Spray with Some Growth Stimulants on Vegetative Growth, Productivity and Quality of Globe Artichoke

Two field experiments were conducted during two successive seasons of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 at the experimental farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Moshtoher, Benha University to investigate the effect of phosphorus fertilization sources i.e., phosphoric acid, bio-phosphorus (Al-Mowaffer bio), calcium superphosphate and rock phosphate and foliar spray with benzyladenine (BA) at 20 ppm, naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) at 40 ppm, salicylic acid (SA) at 50 ppm and monopotassium phosphate at 2 g/l in addition to the control treatment as well as their interactions on vegetative growth, chemical constituents of plant foliage, total flower head yield and its components as well as head quality of globe artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) cv. French. The results showed that application of bio-phosphorus and phosphoric acid fertilizers reflected the highest values of plant growth, chemical constituent, head yield and its quality compared with other used phosphorus sources. Spraying plants with BA at 20 ppm led to significant increases in most vegetative growth parameters and total number and yield of flower head. Using 2 g/l monopotassium phosphate-sprayed plants was responsible for the highest numbers of early head and quality traits of produced head. The combination treatments between bio-phosphorus fertilizer form (Almowaffer bio) and spraying plants with BA or monopotassium phosphate were superior in most cases.