EFFECT OF IRRIGATION WATER SALINITY LEVELS AND DIFFERENT ORGANIC MANURES COMBINED WITH BIO-FERTILIZERS ON GROWTH OF CONOCARPUS ERECTUS L. TRANSPLANTS

A pot experiment was conducted in the Orman Botanical Garden, Giza, Egypt, during two successive seasons of 2014 and 2015 to study the effect of different saline water levels (970, 5000, 8000 and 12000 ppm) and organic manure (cattle manure and chicken manure) combined with bio-fertilizers on Conocarpus erectus L. transplants productivity.The results indicated that there were decreases due to the effect of irrigation water levels salinity and organic manures in plant height (cm), root length (cm), stem diameter (cm), No. of leaves, fresh and dry weight of roots (g)/plant, fresh and dry weights of vegetative parts of Conocarpus erectus transplants with increasing water salinity. On the other hand, chlorophyll a, b and carotenoids content in the leaves decreased with increasing irrigation water levels with or without organic manures. The N, P and K percentages in the leaves were increased with decreasing irrigation water salinity and organic manures, while the Na+, Cl- and proline concentration in the leaves increased with increasing irrigation water salinity and organic manures. It can be concluded that Conocarpus erectus L. transplant can tolerate salinity up to 8000 ppm in irrigation water and organic manures combined with bio-fertilizers.