PLANT GROWTH AND BULB QUALITY OF GARLIC IN RELATION TO APPLICATION OF HUMIC ACID AND SALICYLIC ACID

Abstract

A field study was carried out at Horticulture farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University in Dhaka, during the period from November 2020 to April 2021 to observe the effect of humic acid and salicylic acid on garlic growth, yield and bulb quality. In this experiment, four distinct levels of humic acid H ii

0 = 0 ppm, H 1 = 100 ppm, H = 200 ppm, and H 3 = 400 ppm and four levels of salicylic acid S 0 = 0 ppm, S 1 = 25 ppm, S = 50 ppm, and S = 100 ppm were utilized. The experiment was conducted under Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The maximum plant height (59.92 cm), neck diameter (0.93 cm), leaf length (53.90 cm), bulb diameter (3.99 cm), bulb length (3.84 cm), single bulb weight (27.69 gm), bulb yield (7.65 t/ha), phosphorus content (8.55 mg), potassium content (52.31 mg), sulfur content (35.59 mg),total vitamin C content (12.77 mg/100 g), and total soluble solids (15.57%) were found at H 3 (400 ppm humic acid) treatment while the lowest result found in control. The maximum number of leaves (8.76) was found in H 2 3 treatment and maximum number of cloves (22.93) was found in H

treatment. The maximum plant height (59.36 cm), highest number of leaves plant- (8.85) , leaf length (48.84 cm), neck diameter (0.93 cm), bulb length (3.66 cm), single bulb weight ( 25.71 gm), number of cloves (21.78), bulb yield (7.39 t ha- 1 2 2 1 ) were found in S

(100 ppm) salicylic acid treatment. Significantly the highest bulb yield, phosphorus content, potassium content, sulfur content, total vitamin C content, total soluble solids content were obtained by H 3 S 3 treatment, whereas the lowest result recorded from H (control). In order to sustain better development and improve of garlic yield and quality, the treatment of 400 ppm humic acid with 100 ppm salicylic acid would be the ideal choice.