The Action and Interaction of Different Planting Dates and Organic Fertilizers on the Growth and Yield of Okra Plants

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted, at the Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climate-Dokki, Giza, during two seasons (2014 and 2015), to study the effect of three Planting dates (February 15th, March 15th, and April 15th) and four organic fertilizers (Cattle manure, compost, rabbit manure and poultry manure) and their interaction, on the growth and yield of okra Abelmoschus esculentus (L.). Data on the effect of each and combined treatments were collected on: vegetative growth (Plant height, number of leaves per plant, leaf area, flower number, total chlorophyll, fresh and dry weight); nutrients content (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) and total yield. The soil and air temperature during the experiment were recorded. The experimental design was a split- plot with three replicates. The obtained results indicated that April 15th gave the highest yield followed by March 15th, with significant differences between them. Using poultry manure gave the highest yield followed by rabbit manure with significant differences between them. The lowest yield was found with compost treatment. The interaction between planting date and organic fertilizer was found at April 15th, with poultry manure, which gave the highest yield during both experimental seasons. The economic assessment of costs and returns from different treatments, were calculated. Gross margin per feddan (4200 m2) were analyzed using yield data, price structures and production costs. The poultry manure had the highest gross margin for February 15thwith poultry manure (5010 and 5630 Egyptian pound (LE) for the first and second seasons, respectively). According to the benefit cost ratio (BCR) indicators cattle manure (OF1) in the 15th of February (D1) is the most profitable and cost-effective rate of producing okra that would be beneficial to the farmer in the study area in both seasons with 1.86 and 1.98 respectively.