Utilizing organic manures and seaweed extract to promote the vegetative growth of young solar eclipse plum trees

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Organic fertilization has been proposed as an alternative method for supplying fruit trees with nutrients in the context of organic and sustainable agriculture. Seaweed extracts offer a natural alternative to chemical fertilizers. A field experiment was conducted in the plum research orchard at the Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt, over two successive seasons (2022-2024) to evaluate the impact of organic manures and foliar seaweed application on enhancing the vegetative growth of young solar eclipse trees. Organic manure treatments were applied as cattle manure (12.6 kg per tree), sheep manure (10.6 kg per tree) and cattle plus sheep manures (1:1) compared to NPK chemical fertilizers (120 N, 60 P and 100 K). The treatments were applied alone or in combination with the foliar application of seaweed extract at a rate of 0.75 g/L once every two weeks during the growing season. The obtained results revealed that the treatment, cattle plus sheep manure exhibited significantly the highest values in trunk diameter, new shoot length, leaf number and tree canopy volume. The cattle plus sheep manure treatment had almost the highest leaf area. Leaf chlorophyll content was significantly higher using cattle plus sheep manures. In addition, a mixture of cattle and sheep manures applied to the soil, combined with foliar application of seaweed extract, showed the highest content of leaf nutrients, total carbohydrates, and total amino acids. Chemical characteristics and vegetative growth were improved by using organic manures combined with foliar applications of seaweed extract. This method could be considered an alternative to traditional fertilization of young plum trees.