A trial was carried out at the Experimental Farm of
Hort. Res. Inst., ARC, Giza, Egypt during 2013 and 2014 seasons to
study the effect of individual application of EM biostimulant solution
at 25 ml/l, NPK complete chemical fertilizer (20:20:20 +
microelements) at the rates of 0, 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 g/bag and their
combinations on growth and chemical composition of 2-years – old
offshoots of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cv. Siwi planted in 50-
cm-diameter plastic bags filled with about 35 kg of a mixture of sand
and clay (2 : 1, v/v) under the full sun.
The results showed that all fertilization treatments used in this
study markedly improved all vegetative growth characters with various
significant levels when compared to control in both seasons. The
results indicated also that EM solution alone gave means closely near
to those gained by NPK complete fertilizer at 5 g/bag with few
exceptions in the two seasons. Moreover, increasing application rate of
NPK fertilizer to 7.5 g/bag or more did not cause a pronounced
increment in growth, but combining between EM treatment and NPK
fertilizer at any rate did so, with the superiority of combining between
25 ml/l EM and 5 g NPK/bag, as this combination gave the highest
means over all sole and other combined treatments in both seasons.
Similar observations were also attained concerning the leaf let content
of N, P, K, total indoles, chlorophylls a and b and carotenoids.
Hence, it can be recommended to treat the 2-years-old offshoots of
date palm cv. Siwi cultivated in 50-cm-diameter plastic bags with EM
solution at 25 ml/l and NPK complete fertilizer at 5 g/bag to improve
growth and quality of such offshoots before transferring to the
permanent field.