This work was carried out duringthe two successive seasons of 2015/16 and 2016/17 at the Expt. Farm of South Tahrir, Hort. Res. Station. The experiment aimed to evaluate the effect of three irrigation rates (1200, 1500 and 1800 m3 water/ fadand four potassium fertilization levels (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg K2SO4/ fad) and their interactions on moghat growth and productivity as well as evaluate to what extent these treatments affect soil properties.
Gradual increases in plant height, root length, root diameter, as well as, roots fresh and dry weights/ plant were noticed with increasing irrigation rate from 1200 m3/ fad up to 1800 m3/ fad. This was associated with an improvement in roots quality. Increasing irrigation rate significantly increased percentages of total protein and potassium in moghat root tissues, but decreased mucilage percentage. The highest mucilage percentages in roots were found in plants irrigated with the lowest irrigation rate (1200 m3/fad).
Potassium fertilization enhanced plant growth as plant height, root length and root diameter. This was reflected as increases in root fresh and dry weights/ plant. The highest values represented the abovementioned measurements were found in plants received the highest potassium fertilization level (150 kg K2SO4/ fad). Moghat plants received 150 kg K2SO4/ fad resulted roots contained high percentages of mucilage, protein, potassium and total amino acids.
When, irrigation rates interacted with K fertilization levels, more increases in plant height, root length, root diameter, roots fresh and dry weights/ plant and K percentage in root tissues were found. The highest values of the abovementioned measurements were recorded in plants irrigated with 1800 m3/ fad and fertilized with 150 kg K2SO4/ fad. The same treatment resulted in increases in number of capsule/ plant, number of seeds/ capsule and seed weight/plant. Interaction treatment of 1200 m3 irrigation water/ fad combined with 100 Kg K2SO4/fad resulted in the highest mucilage % in roots comparing to the all other interaction treatments.
Conclusively, the obtained data showed that addition any of the previous treatments led to an improvement in some of the physical and chemical properties of soil, due to increasing organic content. While, bulk density, hydraulic conductivity, EC and pH values were decreased