Effect of urea and potassium sulfate fertilization on some growth traits of Myrtus communis L. plants grown under salt stress

The work was done in the shade house covered in Saran cloth at the College of Agriculture, University of Basrah, during the agricultural seasons of 2022-2023, to study the effect of nitrogen and potassium treatments on myrtle plants growing under saline stress and their interaction. Urea was used as a nitrogen source at concentrations of (0, 50, 100) mg L-1, and potassium sulfate was used as a potassium source at concentrations of (0, 50, 100) mg L-1. As for saline water, drainage water was used at concentrations of (1, 3, 6) ds.m-1. The results showed what the three study factors did. When the salinity stress level was set to 6 ds.m-1, many of the traits of the plants did better, including their rate of growth, number of stems, leaf area, and percentage of dry matter in their vegetative mass, reaching (76.67 cm, 4.81 branches plant-1, 8.93 cm, 5960 cm2, 60.07 %) respectively. The salinity stress treatment at 1 ds.m-1 outperformed the relative water content % rate and protein ratio % (54.13%, 12.15%), respectively. Meanwhile, the urea treatment at 50 mg L-1 outperformed the rate of vegetative mass dry matter percentage, nitrogen percentage, and protein (58.34%, 1.86%, 11.66%), respectively. A 50 mg L-1 dose of potassium sulphate was used for the treatment outperformed the rate of relative water content, nitrogen, and protein (54.63%, 1.83%, 11.46%), respectively. The binary and tertiary interactions were significant.