RESPONSE OF CARAWAY (Carium carvi, L.) GROWTH AND YIELD COMPONENTS TO NPKMg FERTILIZER RATE AND ANTIOXIDANTS TYPE

An experiment was conducted during the winter season of each of 2015/2016 and 2016/ 2017 at the Experimental field, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Egypt in order to evaluate the response of caraway growth and yield under three rates of N:P:K:Mg at 13:5:26:3 ratios/ (0.0, 2.0 and 4.0 g/l) as foliar spray and three types of antioxidants (Control, salicylic acid, vitamin C and vitamin B1 as well as their combinations). The experiment was applied by a split-plot in randomized complete block design (RCBD) arrangement with three replications. Results proved the superiority of chemical fertilization as foliar spray via enhancing yield components of caraway plants in comparing with no application. Salicylic acid (SA), vitamin B1 (Vitam.B) and vitamin C (Vitam.C) at 100 ppm of each applied three times/season showed the best results in most of the studied growth parameters (plant height, number of leaves and branches per plant, total dry weight, root dry weight and root length) and yield components (number of umbels per plant and fruit yield per plant and per faddan) as compared with control. Accordingly, this study recommends the possibility of using antioxidants treatment (SA+ Vitam.B + Vitam.C) as an improving growth performance and yield components of caraway plants under chemical fertilization rate at 2 g/l.