IVANKA MITOVA1 ; LYUBA NENOVA1 ; NIDAL SHABAN2
1 Agricultural Academy, N. Pushkarov Institute of Soil Science Agrotechnologies and Plant Protection, BG-1331 Sofia, Bulgaria
2 University of Forestry, BG-1756 Sofia, Bulgaria
Mitova, I., L. Nenova and N. Shaban, 2017. Abiotic factors and their impact on growth characteristics of Spinach (Spinacia oleracea). Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 24 (5): 806–815
This experiment was carried out under controlled conditions in phytotron chambers of artificial climate – KNER 2 and KNER 4, on two soil types – Luvisols and Vertisols. The Spinach plants (Spinacia oleracea) were grown at air temperature of 18°С, illuminance of 9000 lx and 18000 lx, duration of the day 9 hours and rising rates of nitrogen fertilization.
The aim of the study was establishing the influence of the factors soil type, nitrogen fertilization and light on the growth characteristics of spinach.
From the factors studied (soil type, fertilization and illuminance) the strongest impact (between 41.2 and 60.6%) on the development of the plants (number of leaves, height and biomass) was that of fertilization. The response of the test plants to the illuminance was not in one direction. The number of leaves in both soils and the leaf mass on Vertisols were greater at illuminance 18000 lx. With the increase of the nitrogen fertilization rates, the content of chlorophylls, total sugars, nitrates and nutrients (N, P, K) in plants were rising.