Ozean Journal of Applied Sciences 2(1), 2009
Ozean Journal of Applied Sciences 2(1), 2009
ISSN 1943-2429
© 2009 Ozean Publication
Influence of Potassium Humate on Growth and Chemical constituents of Thuja
Orientalis L seedlings.
1
Sahar, M. Zaghloul, 1E.M. Fatma, El-Quesni1 and 2 Azza A.M.Mazhar
Plant Nutrition Dept., 2Ornamental Plants and Woody Trees Dept., National Research Centre, Egypt
azza856@yahoo.com
______________________________________________________________________________________
Abstract: A pot experiment was conducted during 2006-2007 seasons at National Research Centre
(Research and Production Station, Nubaria). The aim of this work is to study the effect of foliar spray with
potassium humate (0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 % K-humate ) on vegetative growth and some chemical
constituents of Thuja orientalis L plants. Most criteria of vegetative growth expressed plant height, stem
diameter, root length, fresh and dry weights of shoots and roots were significantly affected by application
of aforementioned concentrations of K-humate under study, as well as chemical constituents content i.e.
total soluble sugar content, (N, P, and K percentage content), essential oil % and essential oil yield/plant.
All growth parameters and chemical constituents were increased by increasing humic acid concentrations
compared with untreated control. Therefore, humic acid may recommended for promoted growth
parameters and possessed the best oil percentage in Thuja orientalis L plants
Keywords: Thuja orientalis L plants, potassium humate , chemical constituent
______________________________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Thuja orientalis L plants, Family Cupressaceae, the genus have five species, two one native to North
America and three native to eastern Asia, they are commonly known as arbovitea. It has been widly
cultivated as an ornamental timber tree for its source of wood, shade in different kind of soils, it can be
grown as dense hedge, Vines (1987). Medicinal and windy resistance trees, prefers a sunny shetterd
positions, Bown (1995). This species is known to have antipyretic, aperient, ostringent, diuretic, emollient,
expectrant, lenitive, sedative, a yellow dye is obtained from young branches Grieve (1984). In addition
wood is durable and used for construction, cabinet making and cooperage, Gamble (1972). Thuja
orientalis L plants is a small sized evergreen trees, its length reached 10 m., with a conic crown, and the
foliage grows in dense sprays, dark green colour.
Humic substances are organic compounds that result from the decomposition of plant and animal materials.
Humic acid and their salts which derived from coal and other sources may provide a viable alternative to
liming, to ameliorate soil acidity and improve soil structurel stability. Research has shown it is the humic
fractions (humic acid, fulvic acid and humin) of the soil organic matter that are responsible for the generic
improvement of soil fertility and improved productivity (Kononova 1966 and Fortun et al 1989), the same
author added that humic acids are known to posses many beneficial agricultural properties, they participate
actively in the decomposition of organic matter, rocks and mineral, improve soil structure and change
physical properties of soil, promote the chelation of many elements and make these available to plants, aid
in in correcting plant chlorisis, enhancement of photosynthesis density and plant root respiration has
resulted in greater plant growth with humate application (Smidova, 1960 and Chen and Avid, 1990).
Increase the permeability of plant membranes due to humate application resulted in improve growth of
various groups of beneficial microorganisms, accelerate cell division, increased root growth and all plant
organs for a number of horticultural crops and turfgrasses, as well as, the growth of some trees, Russo and
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Ozean Journal of Applied Sciences 2(1), 2009
Berlyn (1990), Sanders et al (1990) and Poincelot (1993). The aim of the present work is enhancing the
vegetative growth of Thuja orientalis L plant by application of potassium humate, as well as, chemical
constituents, and essencial oil content at Nubaria region, Egypt.
MATERILAS AND METHODS
Two pot experiments were carried out at National Research Centre (Research and Production Station,
Nubaria), during two successive seasons 2006 and 2007 to study the effect of potassium humate on growth,
chemical constituents, and essential oil of Thuja orientalis L.
Six months old seedling of thuja were obtained from nercery of Forestry Department, Horticultural
Research Institute, the seedlings were planted on the last week of march at the two seasons 2006 and 2007,
in plastic pots 30 cm in diameter, filled with 10 kg of sandy soil , one plant /pot, the average heights of
seedlings were 15-20 cm. The investigated soil characterized by sand 68.33%,silt 4.43%,clay 27.24% with
pH 7.81,EC 2.18 dS/m,CaCO3 22.50 %,OM 1.55%,Ca 11.61, Mg 4.80, Na 4.64, K 1.59,Cl 1.80,HCO3
1.4,SO4 8.5 meq/L ,N 19.60,P 65.80,K 165.64 meq/100g . The available commercially fertilizer used
through this experimental work was kristalon (NPK 19:19:19) produced by Phayzon Company, Holand.
The fertilizers rates (5.0 g/pot) used in four equal doses after 4, 8, 16 and 20 weeks from transplanting.
The potassium humate used in this study is produced by alkaline treatment of Victoria brown coal and is
commercially available in Australia (18 % k-humate) . Plants were sprayed with twice freshly prepared
solution of potassium humate at ( 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 %)in addition to the untreated plants (control)
which were sprayed with tap water. The plants treated with K-humate two times of 30 days intervals
starting on the 20th May in both seasons. At last week of November of 2006 and 2007, the following data
were recorded: plant height (cm), stem diameter (mm), root length (cm), fresh and dry weights of shoots
and roots (g), and calculating shoots fresh weight / root fresh weight and shoots dry weight / root dry
weight ratios. The experiment was sit in a completely randomized design with six treatments and six
replicates of each treatment. The data were statistically analyzed according to Snedcor and Cochran (1980)
using the least significant differences (LSD) at 5% level. The following chemical analyses were
determined: total soluble sugars percentage was determined according to the method of Dubois et al (1956).
Essential oil was determined in the shoots of each treatment according to Badawy et al (1991), and
essential oil yield /plant were determined by multiplying essential oil percentage X average of dry shoot
weight/plant. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium were determined according to the method described by
Cottenie et al (1982).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Vegetative growth:
Effect of foliar application of potassium humate on the vegetative growth:
The results in Table (1) show that plant growth is a function of nutrients supply providing, there were clear
significantly positive trend in increasing plant height, stem diameter and root length by increasing the
concentration of potassium humate. The highest significant increases were recorded in the treatments of
2.0 and 25 % potassium humate to a formentioned characters. Application by 0.5 to 2.5 % of K-humate
were increased fresh weight of shoot and roots, it ranged from 13.14 to 47.64 % and 19.96 to 75.93 %,
respectively than the corresponding values of the control plants. Similar results were reported by Brown
and Lilleland (1946) who indicated that spraying tomato plants with humic acid increased growth
compared with control plants due to the direct effect of humic acid on solubilization and transport of
nutrients. Application by 0.5 to 2.5 % of K-humate were increased dry weight of shoots and roots, it
ranged from 3.07 to 76.07 and 12.93 to 117.66 %, respectively than the corresponding values of the control
plants. These results are in accordance with those obtained by Norman et al (2004) on marigolds and
peppers and number of fruits of strawberries. Chen and Avaid (1990) added that humic substances have a
very pronounced influence on the growth of plant roots and enhance root initiation and increased root
growth which known root stimulator. Humic acid improve growth of plant foliage and roots. Vaughan
(1974) proposed that humic acids may primarily increase root growth by increasing cell elongation or root
cell membrane permeability, therefore increased water uptake by increased plant roots, and added that it
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Ozean Journal of Applied Sciences 2(1), 2009
can produce root systems with increased branching and number of fine roots, as a result potentially increase
nutrients uptake by increase root surface area (Rauthan and Schnitzer, 1981).
Table 1. The influence of potassium humate on growth parameters of the Thuja orientalis L plant (means of
the two seasons 2006 and 2007).
Treatments
Plant
(%)
height
K-humate
(cm)
Stem
diamet
er
(mm)
Roots
length
(cm)
Shoots
Roots
Shoots
Roots
Shoots
dry
dry
Shoots
fresh
fresh
FW/R
weight
weight
DW/R
weight
weight
oots
oots
FW
DW
(g)
(g)
Zero
35.33
5.33
31.00
49.83
10.72
4.65
21.44
4.02
5.33
0.5
41.00
6.00
34.67
56.38
12.86
4.38
22.10
4.54
4.87
1.0
43.33
6.67
39.00
66.84
13.75
4.86
26.26
4.80
5.47
1.5
45.67
7.67
42.67
69.73
13.87
5.03
29.57
5.47
5.41
2.0
48.67
8.33
44.33
70.82
15.64
4.53
32.21
6.80
4.74
2.5
49.67
9.67
50.00
73.57
18.86
3.90
37.75
8.75
4.31
LSD 5%
3.80
1.46
4.58
5.02
1.74
ns
1.74
0.69
ns
Effect of potassium humate on chemical constituents:
Soluble sugar content:
Data presented in Table (2) show that foliar application of K-humate affected soluble sugar content of
shoots of Thuya orientalis L . plant compared with control plant.
Data emphasized that soluble sugar contents increased when plants treated with K-humate, the highest
values of these parameters were obtained in plants treated with 2.0 and 2.5% compared with control plants.
These results were in accordance with those obtained by Sladky (1959) . Chen and Avaid (1990) added that
humic acid aid in correcting plant chlorisis, thus enhancement of photosynthesis density. These increments
lead to positive effects on growth parameters and increased total soluble sugars content of Thuja orientalis
L. plants
2- Minerals content:
It is evident from the data in Table (2) that all minerals content (N, P and K %) under investigation were
gradually increased by increasing humic acid concentrations. The increased in nitrogen content of shoots
of Thuja oreintalis L. plants, due to humic acid application, these increments might have influenced plant
growth directly through its effects on ion uptake or by the effects on plant growth regulators. These results
were in line with those obtained by Satish Kumar (1997) and Sivakumar and Devarajan (2005). These
increments led to positive effect on growth parameters and increased nitrogen and phosphorus percent. In
relation to the effect of K-humate on the previous minerals in the shoots were gradually increased by
increasing K-humate level, these increments due to enhancing effect of K-humate on the absorption or
translocation of those minerals. Such phenomenon may due to its effect on enhancing plant metabolism.
In addition humic acid maintained high level of acid phosphate activity led to increase phosphate activity
holds for increased phosphorus uptake by plants (Malcm and Vanghan , 1979). However the increase in
potassium content might be the reason for the increase in K % when increased humic acid doses (Siva
Kumar and Devarajan, 2005).
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Ozean Journal of Applied Sciences 2(1), 2009
Table 2. The influence of potassium humate on chemical constituents of the Thuja orientalis L plant
(means of the two seasons 2006 and 2007).
Soluble
Essential
Nitrogen %
Phosphorus %
Potassium %
Shoots
Roots
Shoots
Roots
Shoots
Roots
Shoots
Roots
Zero
1.51
1.05
0.34
0.31
0.78
0.48
3.67
2.73
0.42
0.09
0.5
1.61
1.16
0.39
0.36
0.90
0.53
4.73
3.41
0.54
0.12
1.0
1.72
1.45
0.46
0.47
1.04
0.64
5.27
3.82
0.57
0.15
1.5
1.77
1.61
0.57
0.53
1.18
0.70
5.83
4.35
0.68
0.20
2.0
1.83
1.68
0.69
0.62
1.34
0.78
6.09
4.79
1.21
0.37
2.5
2.15
1.74
0.81
0.77
1.68
0.86
6.53
5.15
1.67
0.63
0.07
0.02
Treatments
%
sugars %
LSD 5%
Essenti
oil
al oil %
yield/pla
nt (ml)
Oil content:
Total oil percent in Thuja orientalis L. shoots were significantly affected as a result of foliar application
with different concentrations of K-humate. The highest recorded oil % recorded in plants treated with
2.5 % K-humate, it produced 1.67%, whereas the lowest value was 0.42 %, it produced from untreated
control plants. In addition, all concentrations of K-humate caused an increases in the essential oil yield
content in shoots of Thuja orientalis L. plant, Russo and Berlyn (1990), Sanders et al (1990) and Pioncelot
et al (1993) reported that humate application lead to quantitative and qualitative changes in proteins content
which acted positively in cell division resulting in addition to vegetative growth.This led to increase oil
content. From the obove mentioned results, it could be concluded that foliar application of K-humate
promoted growth parameters and possessed the best oil percentage in Thuja oreintalis plant.
Correlation study:
The results of simple correlation coefficients between the essential oil% and soluble sugars % as well as
minerals content are presented in Table(3).
Table 3. Simple correlation coefficients between essential oil% and some minerals content as well under
the used sugars content under the used Potassium humate.
K
NS
NR
Ps
Pr
Ks
K
NS
NR
Ps
Pr
Ks
Kr
Sug
s
Sug r
1
0.946988
0.968955
0.988307
0.988351
0.979147
0.997003
1
0.871731
0.955896
0.978639
0.987598
0.947714
1
0.93049
0.93903
0.911116
0.97377
1
0.991497
0.990125
0.986199
1
0.996096
0.991322
1
0.978124
1
0.975589
0.99571
0.90205
0.925338
0.973895
0.974297
0.932615
0.972568
0.942024
0.971478
0.927512
0.960341
0.966422
0.988477
1
0.989715
1
EssO
0.917036
0.944527
0.798107
0.959146
0.948845
0.964186
0.913388
0.82541
0.886873
76
Kr
Sug s
Sug r
EssO
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Ozean Journal of Applied Sciences 2(1), 2009
It is clear that both essential oil% and soluble sugars % in roots and shoots showed positive and significant
correlation in most cases with the other characters , mainly phosphorus % in roots and shoots , nitrogen in
roots and shoots as well as both potassium% in roots and shoots. Such results might be indicated that humic
acid could play an active role in plant constituents via they might be had a promotive effects ,as mentioned
before(including cell elongation or root cell membrane permeability as well as more produce root systems)
are reflected on nitrogen % ,phosphorus % , potassium % as well as essential oil and soluble sugars %.
Essential oil %
2.0
Essential oil yield/plant %
1.8
1.6
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
Zero
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
K-Humate %
Figure 1. Effect of potassium humate on essential oil % and essential oil yield/plant(ml).
8
y = 1.0823x + 4.0005
R2 = 0.9519**
7
6
Value
Value %
1.4
5
Sug s
4
EssO
3
2
y = 0.4783x + 0.2505 R2 = 0.8408**
1
0
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
K- Humate
Regression analysis was carried out between K-Humate from side and Sug s and Ess O
77
3
Ozean Journal of Applied Sciences 2(1), 2009
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