Effect of Spraying with Soluamine L-24 and Apple Cider Vinegar on some Growth Traits of Le Conte Pear Seedlings Grafted onto Newly Planted Wild Pear Rootstock

Abstract

Research was carried out in one of the fields belonging to the Department of Horticulture at the College of Agriculture - Al-Qadisiyah University - Al-Nouriya, on seedlings of pear cultivar Le Conte grafted on wild pear rootstock, which were planted in 2020 at the beginning of the month of March. At the end of the season, pruning was conducted before the end of winter for all seedlings and three were chosen. Branches for each tree were cut according to the cup method, and the tree was set at a height of 1 meter. The experiment was conducted in the spring semester of 2021 to study the effect of spraying (Soluamine L-24) at three concentrations (0, 1.5, 3 ml L^-1) as recommended, and apple cider vinegar at concentrations (0, 2.4 ml L^-1) was sprayed around the stems of trees to determine its effect on some vegetative traits of pear trees. The results showed that treatment S2 was superior with the highest rate of tree height (cm), stem diameter (mm), branch length (cm), number of leaves (tree leaf^-1), leaf area (cm²), relative chlorophyll content in leaves (SPAD), and percentage of dry leaf weight. (%) compared to the comparison treatment that gave the lowest values. Regarding spraying around the stem with apple cider vinegar, treatment Av2 was significantly superior to the rest of the treatments by giving the highest values in all the studied traits, while the comparison A0 gave the lowest values. As for the binary interaction between the study factors, treatment S2Av2 outperformed the other interaction treatments in the studied traits, while the intervention treatment S0Av0 recorded the lowest values for all traits.