Effect of Different Sources and Levels of Nitrogen Fertilizers with and without Organic and Bio-fertilizers on Growth and Yield Components of Fennel Plants (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.)

Abstract

Two field experiments were conducted in a newly reclaimed land at a private farm in Village No 8,  El-Minia Governorate, Egypt during two successive seasons (2017/2018) to evaluate the effect of integrated nitrogen fertilizer sources with organic and bio-fertilization on growth and yield components of the fennel plant. The experiment was arranged in a split- split-plot design. The organic treatments (0.0 and 5.0 t compost t/fed.) were arranged in main plots, nitrogen treatments (0.0, 10.0, 50.0 and 80.0 kg N/fed.) as urea or ammonium sulphate were allocated in subplots and bio-fertilizer treatments (without and with) were applied in sub-sub plots. The main effects of compost, nitrogen fertilization and bio-fertilizer showed that the maximum values of plant height, dry weight/plant, number of branches/plant, number of mumble/plant, number of umbellule's/umble and 1000-fruits  weight were attained under 5 t/fed compost,  80 kg N/fed as ammonium sulphate with bio-fertilizer. The results of the interaction among treatments indicated that combined 5.0 t compost /fed with 50 kg N/fed as ammonium sulphate and using bio-fertilizer exhibited the highest values of growth and yield components of fennel. Meanwhile, we can save about 30 kg N/fed by treated fennel plants with organic and bio-fertilizers without any reduction in vegetative growth.