Marwa Mohamed Soliman

Background: Peace lily (Spathiphyllum wallisii Regel) is an ornamental indoor plant with promising cut flower market, as well as antiviral, pharmacological and ecological potentials. Water deficiency can have sound effects on the growth performance and aesthetic quality of such plant. The aim of this study was to investigate the consequences of zeolite, biochar, and zeo-char loaded nano-nitrogen application on the growth performance and biochemical components of peace lily under water shortage conditions. An experiment was conducted over two consecutive seasons (2021–2022) at the experimental nursery of Ornamental Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. Soil amendments; zeolite, biochar, and zeo-char loaded nano-nitrogen were prepared and applied to soil before cultivation. Results: Our results revealed that the new combination treatment (zeo-char loaded nano-N) had an exceeding significant effect on most of the studied parameters. Vegetative traits such as plant height (35.7 and 35.9%), leaf number per plant (73.3 and 52.6%), leaf area (40.2 and 36.4%), stem diameter (28.7 and 27.1%), root number (100 and 43.5%) and length (105.7 and 101.9%) per plant, and fresh weight of leaves (23.2 and 21.6%) were significantly higher than control (commercially recommended dose of NPK) with the application of zeo-char loaded nano-N during the two growing seasons, respectively. Similar significant increments were obtained for some macro- (N, P, K, Mg, Ca) and micro- (Fe, Zn, Mn) elements with the same treatment relative to control. Chlorophyll (18.4%) and total carotenoids (82.9 and 32.6%), total carbohydrates (53.3 and 37.4%), phenolics (54.4 and 86.9%), flavonoids (31.7% and 41.8%) and tannins (69.2 and 50%), in addition to the phytohormone gibberellic acid (GA₃) followed the same trend with the application of zeo-char loaded nano-N, increasing significantly over control. Leaf histological parameters and anatomical structure were enhanced with the new combination treatment in comparison with control. Antioxidant enzymes (catalase and peroxidase), proline and abscisic acid (ABA) exhibited significant declines with zeo-char loaded nano-N treatment relative to control. Conclusion: These findings suggest that incorporating soil amendments with nano- nutrients could provide a promising approach towards improving growth performance and quality of ornamental, medicinal and aromatic species under water deficiency conditions.

The present work aimed to investigate the effect of salinity in natural habitats in Egypt on the main secondary metabolites of Rosmarinus officinalis L. and Artemisia monosperma L. plants compared to plants grown at normal conditions. Plants grown under salinity were collected from Egyptian Western Coastal region habitats irrigated with underground water. Results showed that salinity increased the essential oil percentage of R. officinalis L. by 52.7% and A. monosperma L by 0.29% in addition to the total phenolics and flavonoids content in dry leaves compared to control plants. GC/MS analysis of rosemary essential oils revealed that salinity decreased the amount of some major oil monoterpenes component as verbenone, with a slight effect on 1,8 cineole and increased Camphor, endo- Boreneol, and linalool in addition to the appearance of new specific components such as Chrysanthenone monoterpene ketone and Caryophyllene sesquiterpene, while, in the case of Artemisia, the GC/MS showed that Artemisia ketone, Camphor, β -phellandrene monoterpenes andα-Bisabolol sesquiterpenewere the major oil components; salinity decreased Camphor and β -phellandrene content and increased artemisia ketone and α-Bisabolol oil content. About 11 new oil constituents were detected such as ( +)-2-Bornanone and Sesquisabinene hydrate. Mineral ions (N, K⁺, Ca⁺², P, and Mg⁺²) uptake by R. officinalis and A. monosperma decreased in plants grown under salinity, while Na content increased compared to corresponding controls. Results demonstrated that both plants could tolerate the high salinity level in natural Western Coastal region soil which promoted more production of valuable secondary metabolites. The antimicrobial effect of R. officinalis L. and A. monosperma L. leaf methanolic extracts, results showed that R. officinalis extracts had an inhibitory response against all tested gram-positive and negative bacteria, in addition to the yeast (Candida albicans), whereas there was no any inhibitory effect concerning A. monosperma L extract on the tested species.

Salinity is one of abiotic stress that affects plant growth and production. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of salinity and vermicompost on morphology and physiology parameters of Calliandra haematocephala. The experiment was carried out with salinity treatments at 1000, 2000 3000 ppm in addition to the control (tap water, 280 ppm), vermicompost treatments at 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% in addition to the control. The results indicated that increasing level of salinity resulted in reduction in vegetative growth and flowering parameters (plant height, number of branches/plant, stem diameter, root length, fresh and dry weights of leaves and roots/plant, number of flowers /plant, as well as fresh and dry weights of flowers /plant), total chlorophylls, total carbohydrates, K⁺%, Ca²⁺%, and K⁺/Na⁺ ratio, while increased proline, Na⁺ and Cl⁻% in the plants. Catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) enzyme activities significantly increased with elevating salinity level from 0 to 3000 ppm. Application of vermicompost with any concentration had a positive effect on vegetative growth and flowering parameters, total chlorophylls, total carbohydrates, nutrient uptake, K⁺/Na⁺ ratio, proline content, enzyme activities and reducing accumulation of Na⁺ and Cl⁻% toxic ions in leaves. Based on the results, application of vermicompost at 20% recommended for alleviating the harmful efects of salinity on Calliandra haematocephala plants irrigated with saline water at concentration up to 3000 ppm.