Effects of zinc, boron, and sulfur on quantitative and qualitative characteristic of Allium sativum L.

To investigate the effects of zinc, boron, and sulfur on the quantitative characteristics, elements uptake, and allicin content in Ziabar local garlic (Allium sativum L.), an experiment was conducted as a completely randomized block design with three replications in 2019-20. The treatments included 1- control (without fertilizer use), 2- Zn, 3- B, 4- S, 5- Zn+S, 6- Zn+B, 7- B+S, and 8- S+B+Zn. Sulfur, zinc, and boron fertilizers were added to the soil as sulfur flower (100 kg ha-1), ZnSO4·7H2O (20 kg ha−1), and H3BO3 (5 kg ha−1) at two vegetative growth and bulb filling stages. The results showed that the S+B+Zn treatment was significantly superior to other treatments in all studied traits. Among the single fertilizer treatments, the highest economic yield and boron uptake rate was observed with the B application. The S application resulted in the highest S uptake. The highest Zn uptake and allicin content was observed in the Zn application treatment. Among the dual treatments, the B+S treatment caused the highest economic yield and S and B uptake rate. The Zn+B treatment showed the highest Zn uptake. The highest allicin content (29%) was observed in the S+B+Zn treatment. The highest garlic economic yield (3000 kg ha-1) and the best quality in terms of allicin content (29%), S uptake (0.73 kg ha-1), Zn uptake (39.6 kg ha-1), and B uptake (12.96 kg ha-1) were obtained in the S+B+Zn treatment. According to the present results, the use of zinc, boron, and sulfur fertilizers along with basal fertilizers could be recommended to increase the quantitative and qualitative yield of garlic.