FOLIAR APPLICATION OF BIOSTIMULANT MODULATES THE GROWTH AND YIELD IN TWO CULTIVARS OF LETTUCE (LACTUCA SATIVA L.) PLANTED IN SOUTHERN OF IRAQ

The experiment was conducted in one of the agricultural fields in Al-Deir -Basrah province during the 2016-2017 agricultural season in order to study the effect of three concentrations of seaweed extract (kelpak) (0, 1.5 and 3 ml.L-1) on the growth and yields of two cultivars of lettuce (Local and Nader). Factorial experiment was conducted according to Randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications, and the means were compared using least significant difference (LSD) test at a probability level of 0.05. The results showed that the cultivar "Nader" gave a significant increase in the stem diameter, number of leaves, leaf area, head weight (785) g, total yields (39.49) ton.ha(-1) and therefore the Percentage of dry matter of leaves, "Local" cultivars significant in the percentage of total soluble solid, spraying lettuce plants with algae extract at 1.5 and 3 ml L-1 concentrations increased significantly in the vegetative growth characters and yield in plant height, number of leaves, leaf area, head weight (731,911) g and total yields (36.78,45.81) ton.h(a)-(1). The interaction between seaweed extract (kelpak) and cultivar had significant increase in all characters in the study.