Response of Passion Fruit(Passiflora edulis Sims) to applying and foliar spraying organic fertilizers and its effect on the vegetative growth(Case study)

Passion fruit and its by-products (leaves, peels, seeds) have economic significance, fertilization should be provided to enable the activity of metabolic processes and maximize the growth The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of varying amounts of soil-applied organic fertilizer and foliar use of an organic extract on the vegetative growth of passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) seedlings that were nine months old. The experiment was completed at the horticulture nursery of the Directorate of Agriculture in the Babylon Governorate in Iraq for the period from 1st March to mid-November 2022. The nursery conditions were put in plastic pots where the seedlings grew. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design (R.C.B.D.) consisting of three replicates and two factors of the experiment. Factor 1 was organic fertilizer using date palm waste, which was applied to the soil at three rates, namely 0, 30, and 40 g per seedling. Factor 2 comprised foliar spraying using X-Humate 85% extract at the concentrations of 0 and 10ml L-1. The statistical method of analyzing data was the Least Significant Difference (L.S.D.) test at a 5 percent significance level. The results show that the addition of 40 g of palm waste per seedling was very high in enhancing all the parameters of vegetative growth, which were plant height, plant stem diameter, number of branches and leaves, plant leaf area, chlorophyll content of leaves, and carbohydrate. There were also significant improvements in these traits upon foliar application of X-Humate 85% at 10 ml L-1 relative to the untreated control. The combination of the work of soil fertilization and foliar spraying led to high vegetative growth in all the characteristics that were measured.