Response of barley grown under saline condition to some fertilization treatments

Two field experiments were conducted at 2010–2011 and 2011–2012 winter seasons under the saline conditions of El-Tena plain (17,000 ppm), North Sinai, to investigate the effect of different organic fertilization sources (30 m^3 fed^-1 of animal dung, 6 tones fed^-1 of each of rice straw with Olive Mill Wastewater compost (OMW compost) and the regular rice straw compost (RS-compost) besides 20 m^3 fed^-1 as the conventional dose of animal dung as the control treatment in addition to foliar application with different concentrations of zinc sulphate (0, 10, 20 and 30 ppm) on the growth, productivity, free proline content and total chlorophyll content of Giza 123 Cultivar of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Results obtained indicated that both RS-compost and OMW-compost had positive effects on soil properties where barley growth and productivity were more than the conventional organic fertilization under saline conditions; yet, applying OMW-compost under the saline conditions should be under precautions to prevent increasing the EC of the soil. Applying ZnSO_4 as a foliar application into barley plants increased the plant productivity as a result of enhancing the plant metabolism and growth. The highest results were obtained from applying 30 ppm. Free proline concentration was found to be directly proportional to higher salinity level. For the interaction between OMW-compost and ZnSO_4 foliar application, the highest results except for the free proline were obtained from RS-OMW compost x 30 ppm ZnSO_+4.