RESPONSE OF THE SLOW-GROWING MISTLETOE FIG (FICUS DELTOIDEA JACK. ) PLANT TO FERTILIZATION TREATMENTS AND GROWTH ACTIVATOR 2. HUMIC ACID LIQUID FERTILIZER TREATMENT

A series of pot experiments was conducted under plastic house at the nursery of Hort. Res. Inst., ARC, Giza, Egypt during 2012 and 2013 seasons to reveal the individual and combined effects of actosol (a humic acid NPK liquid fertilizer) when applied monthly as a foliar spray at the rates of 0.0, 2.5 and 5.0 ml/l and as a soil drench at the rates of 0.0, 10.0 and 15.0 ml/l on growth and chemical composition of mistletoe fig (Ficus deltoidea Jack.) transplants (6- months-old) grown in 20-cm-diameter plastic pots filled with about 2.5 kg of a mixture of sand, clay and peatmoss (1:1:1, v/v/v). The obtained results indicated that all vegetative and root growth parameters, the photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, b and carotenoids) in the leaves, as well as N, P, K, Fe, Zn and Mn concentration in the leaves and roots were markedly improved in response to spraying or drenching with humic acid liquid fertilizer at various levels, with the superiority of the combination between 5.0 ml/l level as foliar spray and 10.0 ml/l level as soil drench, which gave, in general the highest records in the two seasons compared to control and all other treatments. Hence, it could be recommended to apply humic acid liquid fertilizer (actosol) monthly during the active growing period at the rate of 5.0 ml/l as foliage spray combined with 10.0 ml/l level as soil drench in order to get good and healthy mistletoe fig (Ficus deltoidea Jack.) plants suitable for commercial marketing.