Effect of some natural extracts on growth and chemical constituents of schefflera arboricola plant / Rasha Mohamed Ali Gomaa ; Supervised Mohamed Sayed Hanafy Elhanafy , Saad Milad Nikola , Faisal Mohamed Abdelaleam Saadawy

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Agriculture - Department of Ornamental Horticulture

The study of this experiment had been carried out at the ornamental horticultural department, Faculty of agriculture, Cairo university, Giza, Egypt, and ornamental plants research department, horticulture research Institute, Giza, Egypt, during the two seasons of 2007 - 2008 and 2008{u2013}2009. The aim of this experiment was to study the effect of some natural extracts on growth and chemical constituents of Schefflera arboricola plants to improve the growth and chemical composition. Rooted cuttings of schefflera arboricola plants, 15 - 17 cm long, were planted in August in 30 cm diameter pots filled with a mixture of clay soil and peat moss at 1 : 1 (v : v). Four types of natural extracts with two methods of application (soil drench and foliar spray method) in addition to control treatment were used. Thus, the experiment included 9 treatments as follows: Control, aloe extract, garlic extract, yeast extract and henna extract, each extract was used in two methods (spray and drench). The application of natural extracts started in the first of October and was repeated monthly for 6 months in the two seasons. The results were summarized as follows: The highest values of plant height, stem diameter, dry weight of leaves / plant, leaf area, root length, roots fresh and dry weights /plant ,chlorophyll a, b, total chlorophylls, carotenoids, total carbohydrates percentage, N, P and K percentages were obtained with garlic extract followed by yeast extract, then Aloe extract and finally henna extract in the two seasons

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