الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 84 |  |  |
| | | from | 84 | | |
Abstract
The field experiment was carried out during the two successive winter growing seasons of 2015 and 2016 at the Experimental Farm of Horticulture Department of the Faculty of Agriculture, Ain Shams University, Shoubra El-Kheima, Cairo, Egypt. In order to determine the effect of three nitrogen fertilizer rates (40, 60 or 80 kg N/feddan) and two sources, i.e. ammonium sulphate [(NH4)2SO4 20.6% N-NH4+] and calcium nitrate [Ca (NO3)2 15.5% N-NO3-] on the vegetative growth, yield and leaf chemical compositions of two quinoa cultivars (Cica and Hualhuas), harvested after 40 days from sowing date as a new non-traditional leafy vegetable crop in Egypt. The treatments were arranged in a split-plot design with three replicates.
The obtained results could be summarized as follows
(1) Vegetative growth characters and yield of fresh leaves
A. Effect of cultivars
1. Young plants of Cica cultivar gave higher significant values of all studied vegetative growth characters, i.e. plant length, number of leaves per plant, plant fresh and dry weights, fresh and dry weights of leaves per plant and yield, in both seasons.
2. Young plants of Haulhuas cultivar gave significantly higher value of leaf area in both growing seasons.
B. Effect of nitrogen rates of the different nitrogen sources
1. The application of 80 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate recorded the highest significant values of plant length in both growing seasons.
2. Number of leaves/plant showed insignificant differences among nitrogen treatments in both seasons.
3. Application of 80 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate or ammonium sulfate recorded the highest values of leaf area, plant fresh and dry weights and fresh and dry weights of leaves/plant compared to the other nitrogen treatments, in both growing seasons, without significant differences between them.
4. The highest significant yield was obtained by using 80 kg N/feddan of ammonium sulfate in both seasons.
C. Effect of the interaction between cultivars and nitrogen treatments
1. Quinoa plants of Cica cultivar fertilized with 80 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate recorded the highest significant values of plant length in both seasons.
2. Insignificant differences were noticed between all nitrogen treatments with both cultivars on the number of leaves per plant in both seasons.
3. Cica cultivar recorded higher significant values of plant fresh and dry weights, fresh and dry weight of leaves/plant and yield when the plants were fertilized with 80 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate or ammonium sulfate in both seasons.
4. Hualhuas cultivar plants fertilized with 80 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate or ammonium sulfate exhibited the highest significant values of leaf area in both growing seasons.
(2) Leaf chemical compositions
A. Effect of cultivars
1. Plants of Hualhuas cultivar recorded significantly higher values of leaf chlorophyll (chlorophyll a, b and total), ash, fats, Ca and Fe and also exhibited lower contents of leaf nitrate content than Cica cultivar in both growing seasons.
2. Cica cultivar gave significantly higher values of carotenoids, crude proteins, N, P, K, Na and Zn in the leaves than those of Hualhuas cultivar in both seasons.
3. No significant differences were recorded between the two tested cultivars regarding total carbohydrates in both seasons.
B. Effect of nitrogen rates of the different nitrogen sources
1. Application of 60 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate gave the highest significant values of chlorophyll a, b and total, while 80 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate recorded the highest values of carotenoids, ash, protein, N and Fe.
2. Application of 60 or 80 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate gave the highest values of total carbohydrates and Zn without significant differences between them.
3. Nitrogen treatment of 60 or 80 kg N/feddan of either ammonium sulfate or calcium nitrate gave highest significant percentage of K, while adding 80 kg N/feddan of both sources gave the highest significant percentages of Ca in both seasons.
4. The highest significant values of crude fiber and fat percentages and the lowest values of leaf nitrate content were obtained by the applying of 40 kg N/feddan ammonium sulfate in both growing seasons.
5. No significant differences were realized among the nitrogen treatments on P percentages in both seasons.
C. Effect of the interaction between cultivars and nitrogen treatments
1. Plants of Hualhuas cultivar fertilized with 40 or 60 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate recorded the highest significant values of chlorophyll a content, without a significant difference between both of them.
2. The highest significant values of leaf chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll were obtained by the plants of Hualhuas cultivar fertilized with 60 or 80 kg N/feddan of ammonium sulfate or with 60 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate, without significant differences among them.
3. Quinoa plants of Cica cultivar received 80 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate recorded the highest significant values of carotenoids in both growing seasons.
4. Plants of Hualhuas cultivar received nitrogen treatments of 80 kg N/feddan of ammonium sulfate and calcium nitrate in the first and second seasons, respectively, recorded the lowest significant values of carotenoids.
5. Leaves of young quinoa plants of cvs Cica or Hualhuas fertilized by 40 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate showed the highest significant values of ash percentage in both seasons.
6. The highest values of crude fibers were noticed with the plants of Cica cultivar received 60 kg N/feddan of ammonium and those of Hualhuas cultivar fertilized with 40 kg N/feddan of ammonium sulfate in both seasons without significant differences between them.
7. The highest significant values of the percentage of fats were obtained by the plants of cv. Hualhuas when treated with 40 kg N/feddan of ammonium sulfate followed by those of the same cultivar fertilized with 40 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate in both seasons.
8. Plants of cv. Cica fertilized with 80 kg N/feddan either from ammonium sulfate or calcium nitrate gave the highest significant percentages of crude proteins compared to the rest of the treatments.
9. Leaves of cv. Cica plants showed the highest significant percentages of total carbohydrates when received 80 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate in relative to the other treatments whereas those of Hualhuas cultivar contained the highest values without significant differences between both treatments in the two seasons.
10. Plants of Hualhuas cultivar which received 40 kg N/feddan of ammonium sulfate gave the lowest significant values of nitrate in both seasons.
11. Cica cultivar plants fertilized with 80 kg N/feddan from ammonium sulfate or calcium nitrate recorded the highest significant values of leaf nitrogen percentage in both seasons.
12. Application of 60 or 80 kg N/feddan on cv. Cica plants showed the highest values of leaf P and K in both seasons.
13. Cica cultivar plants recorded the highest value of Zn when supplied with 40 kg N/feddan of ammonium sulfate and with 60 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate in both seasons.
14. Quinoa plants of cv. Hualhuas fertilized with 40 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate gave the highest significant percentage of Ca compared with the other treatments in both seasons.
15. Application of 80 kg N/feddan of calcium nitrate showed the highest significant value of Fe with Hualhuas cultivar in both seasons.
Conclusion
Given the experimental conditions of this study, it is concluded that Cica cultivar plants received 80 kg N/feddan either from ammonium sulfate or calcium nitrate gave the highest yield of fresh leaves with acceptable quality attributes.