Abstract
A field experiment was carried out at Al-Bahariya Oasis, Giza, Egypt, during three successive seasons to find out the effect of application of bentonite (BN) as a natural clay deposit at either 6 or 12 kg/palm tree and humic substances (HS) as organic amendment at either 0.75 or 1.0 L/palm tree incorporated with Bacillus polymyxa (BP) as a biofertilizers at 14 and 28 mL/L rates on growth, yield, and fruit weight of 10-year-old Siwi date palm cv. (Phoenix dectylifera L.). Siwi trees were cultivated in sandy texture soil at a distance of 8 x 8 m and were irrigated with 100%, 85%, and 70% of ET crop. Effects of the previous treatments on growth, date palm crop, soil properties, water relations, water-use efficiency (WUE), and economic return were also studied. The obtained results showed that the mean values of leaf length, leaflet length and width, fruit set%, bunch weight, yield/palm, yield/fed, fruit weight, flesh weight, and fruit pulp weight were increased in response to the different individual and combined treatments used in this study with various significance levels compared to the control treatment means in the studied three seasons. However, the superiority was for combining between amending the sandy soil with either low concentrations of BN (6 kg/tree) + HS (0.75 Liter/tree) + BP (14 mL/L) or high concentrations of BN (12 kg/tree) + HS (1.0 L/tree) + BP (28 mL/L) and irrigation with 85% of ETc water level, as such combinations attained the highest values in most of the mentioned values over both the sole and combined treatments in the studied three seasons. Furthermore, the results indicated that the highest monthly ETc values occurred during June and July months, while the lowest values occurred during December and January months. Additionally, water productivity (WP) increased considerably by reduction of water quantity (70% ETc) associated with soil conditioner treatment (BN.12 kg +HS 1 L + BP. 28 mL/L), and values were 2.17, 2.25, and 2.27 kg fruit/m(3) of water irrigation during the growing seasons, respectively. The highest net return was attributed to irrigation with 85% of ETc water level along with the application of soil conditioners at high rates. Accordingly, it is advisable to apply the soil conditioners of bentonite (at 6 or 12 kg/tree) and humic substances (at either 0.75 or 1.0 L/tree) with B. polymyxa (at either 14 or 28 mL/L) plus irrigation with either 85% or 70% of ETc water level to obtain the best growth, highest yield, (WP), and gross return from var. Siwi date palm grown under an oasis agro-system.