[56]
Mona1,
Y. Khalil
A
pot experiment was conducted in the field of National Research Centre at
Giza , during 1998/1999 and 1999/2000 seasons to study the effect of commercial
sea salt (NaCl) at the levels of 0, 2000, 4000 and 8000ppm and compost
fertilization at the rates of 0, 0.7 kg/pot (7.0 ton/fed.) and
1.0 kg/pot (10.0 ton/fed.) on growth, chemical composition, oil content,
yield and components of rosemary (Rosmarinus
officinalis L.). The results showed that increasing salinity levels reduced
all growth, traits (plant height,
number of branches/plant, herbage fresh and dry weights and photosynthetic
pigments), sugars content, oil % and yield, as well as K% and K:Na ratio in
herb, during the cuts harvested in a seasons, except for the 2000ppm level which
increased such traits. Free proline content, Na and Cl % in herb showed an
opposite trend. However, compost reduced the harmful effects of saline stress
and the improvement increased by increasing compost level. So, it is advised to
mix compost with the soil at the rate of 1.0 kg / pot (10.0 ton/fed.) to reduce
the deleterious effects of irrigation with saline water.