Several agronomic factors, including planting density, affect plant growth and final yield.
New soil suffers from severe fertility shortage and crop productivity. Potassium humate (KH)
application improves soil fertility and plant performance under new soil conditions. Therefore, this
investigation was performed in two seasons of 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 to study the impact of KH
application at the rate of 50 kg hectare−1 (ha−1) on growth, yield, physio-biochemical attributes,
plant water status and nutrients in faba bean plants grown in newly reclaimed soil under three
planting densities, i.e., D1 = 222.222 plants ha−1 (15 × 60 cm), D2 = 166.666 plants ha−1 (20 × 60 cm)
and D3 = 133.333 plants ha−1 (25 × 60 cm). The results showed that KH application enhanced tissue
water status by increasing the membrane stability index (MSI%) and relative water content (RWC%),
while electric leakage (EL%) was reduced, alongside increased growth attributes physio-biochemical
properties and nutrients. These results were positively reflected by the improved yield and its
components (i.e., number of pods plant−1, 100-seed weight, seed yield plant−1 and seed yield ha−1)
in favor of the medium planting density (166.666 plants ha−1). The results of the current study
showed that the application of KH with the medium planting density (20 × 60 cm) was the best
treatment combination to enhance the performance and productivity (2.97 ton ha−1) of faba bean
plants grown under newly reclaimed soil conditions. |
