Assessments of Humic Acid Soil Application and Deficit Irrigation on Growth, Fruit Quality and Water Use Efficiency of Physalis peruviana L.

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

• Seyyed Amir Hossein Mousavi ¹
• F. Nekounam ¹
• Taher Barzegar ¹
• Zahra Ghahremani ¹
• Jafar Nikbakht ²

¹ Department of Horticultural Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran

² Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22067/jhs.2023.80428.1226

Abstract

Introduction
Physalis peruviana L. is a short perennial shrub that is a member of the Solanaceae family. These fruits have many benefits for human health because of their nutritional and bioactive compounds (vitamins (A, B, C and K), essential fats and etc.) and reduced the risk of diseases such as cancer, malaria, asthma, hepatitis, dermatitis and rheumatism. Therefore, it has received special attention for cultivation all over the world. Increasing crop production and mitigating abiotic stresses are major challenges under extreme climatic environments and intense farming activities. Crop management strategies such as deficit irrigation can decrease soil evaporation, runoff, and plant transpiration, and increase water use efficiency (WUE) and water conservation. In addition to these practices, organic input, which includes the application of organic materials such as compost and humic substances, is an additional strategy that increases soil water retention and can potentially improve plant WUE. Water is crucial for agriculture and needs to be used effectively due to climate change and drought in Iran. For this reason, to adapt to water deficit scenarios, deficit irrigation applications are increasing in importance. Water availability is expected to be a growth limiting factor that would affect fruit yield in Physalis peruviana due to reduced flower set and elevated floral abscission rate.
 
Materials and Methods
In order to investigate the effect of humic acid on physiological characteristics, yield and fruit quality of Physalis peruviana under deficit irrigation conditions, a split plot experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted during 2021. Treatments consisted arrangement of three levels of irrigation (starting irrigation at 100, 80 and 60% ETc (crop evapotranspiration)) and three levels of humic acid (0, 1.5 and 3 kg ha^-1). The seeds of Physalis peruviana were sown in seedling trays contain peat moss. The seedlings were grown under normal conditions (25±2 °C/day and 20±2 °C at night with 60-65% RH). Plant height, total chlorophyll, fruit yield per plant, total soluble solid content, titratable acidity, vitamin C content and water use efficiency were measured. Statistical analyses were performed with SAS V9.3, and means comparison were separated by Duncan’s multiple range tests at p < 0.05.
 
Results and Discussion 
The results showed that deficit irrigation significantly reduced growth, fruit yield, vitamin C and increased water use efficiency (WUE) and Total soluble solid content of Physalis peruviana. The soil application of humic acid significantly increased total chlorophyll, fruit quality and yield, and decreased leaf electrolyte leakage under normal and deficit irrigation, thus, the deficit irrigation 60 ETc% decreased the plant height by 18.6% and the fruit yield by 22.2% compared to irrigation 100 ETc%. The maximum plant length (200.3 cm), total chlorophyll content (2.42 mg g^-1FW) and fruit yield (4793.3 kg ha^-1) were observed in plants treated with 3 kg ha^-1 humic acid under 100% ETc irrigation. The highest value of total soluble solid (12.6 B°), antioxidant activity (90.06 %) and WUE (1.23 kg m^-3) were obtained with 3 kg ha^-1 soil application of humic acid under deficit irrigation 60% ETc. The application of 3 kg ha-¹ humic acid under 100 and 80 %ETc irrigation increased the fruit yield by 25% and 4%, respectively, compared to the control plants (non treated with humic acid) under irrigation100 ETc% and under deficit irrigation  60 ETc%, with decreasing 11% fruit yield, water consumption was saved by 40%. Soil and crop management practices that alter plant water and nutrient availability could affect the processes of crop evapotranspiration and WUE, which can influence the yield and fruit quality by changing the internal nutrient and water balance. Incorporating organic matter within a crop growth system either as leaf spray or soil mix is a complementary strategy to improve crop growth and WUE. By inducing antioxidant enzyme activities, HS could assist plants in stomata functioning, thereby closing stomata more efficiently under drought stress, which results in plant water conservation. The reason of the difference between WUE values probably appeared due to the differences on Physalis peruviana yield. WUE showed an upward trend with an increasing in irrigation.
 
Conclusion
Study results suggest that soil application of humic acid with increasing vitamin C, TSS and TA, improved fruit quality. According to the results, application of 3 kg ha^-1 humic acid is suggested to improve fruit yield and quality of Physalis peruviana under normal and deficit irrigation conditions.
 

Keywords

• Total chlorophyll
• Total soluble solid
• Vitamin C
• Water use efficiency

Main Subjects

• Medicinal Plants

©2023 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

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