An experiment was undertaken in the open field at the
nursery of Hort. Res. Inst., ARC, Giza, Egypt during 2013 and 2014
seasons to explore the effect of different water qualities (fresh, mixed (50%
fresh + 50% sanitary water) and primary treated sanitary water), various
concentrations of jasmine oil (0.0, 0.03 and 0.05%) applied as foliar spray,
3 times with 15 days interval and their interactions on growth and chemical
composition of one-year-old seedlings of Australian pine (Casuarina
equisetifolia L.) and River Red Gum (Eucalyptus rostrata Schlecht.)
cultivated in 16-cm-diameter black polyethylene bags filled with about 3.5
kg of clayey soil.
The obtained results have shown that all vegetative and root growth
parameters of the used two trees were significantly increased in response to
the different sole treatments and interactions used in this study. A similar
trend was also obtained concerning the leaf content of chlorophyll a, b and
carotenoids, as well as total soluble sugars, N, P and K in the stem, leaves
and roots, as they were markedly increased by the various employed
treatments. On the other hand, content of Pb and Cd in the stem, leaves and
roots was increased as the level of sanitary water increased in irrigation
water, but they were gradually decreased with increasing jasmine oil
concentration in spray solution. In general, content of these two metals in
various plant organs was greatly less than their critical levels that induce
toxicity. So, no morpho-or physio-logical disorders appear on the plants of
the two studied tree species. However, the prevalence in all previous
measurements was for the combining between irrigation with mixed water
and spraying with 0.05% jasmine oil solution, as this combination gave the
best rate of vegetative and root growth and the highest content of pigments,
total soluble sugars, N, P and K in plant tissues accompanied with the least
content of Pb and Cd elements.
Hence, it could be said that primary treated sanitary water can be used
after mixing with fresh water at equal parts in irrigation Casuarina
equisetifolia L. and Eucalyptus rostrata Schlecht. plants proved spraying
them with 0.05% jasmine oil solution, 3 times with 15 days interval to
achieve the best growth and highest quality.