The effect of salinity stress and foliar application of nano-fertilizers on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of quinoa forage

Regarding the importance of nutritional management in saline conditions and the need to investigate the nutritional aspects of the new quinoa crop, this research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of different levels of salinity stress and different nano fertilizers on the morphological characteristics and quantitative and qualitative characteristics of quinoa forage.

This experiment was conducted on factorial experimental based on a completely randomized design with three replications in the research field of Urmia University during 2017-2018. The first factor was salinity stress with water of Lake Urmia at three levels (0, 16, 32 dS m-1) and the second factor was nano-fertilizer at five levels (potassium, zinc calcium, silica, and no foliar application (control)).

The results showed that the highest and lowest values of plant height, leaf dry weight and inflorescence dry weight were obtained from the treatment without salinity stress and salinity stress at 32 dS m-1, respectively. Salinity stress at 32 and 16 ds/m, compared to the control, increased crude protein (5% and 3%), soluble carbohydrates (15% and 14%), acid detergent fiber (23% and 7%), neutral detergent fiber (20% and 5%) and crude fiber (10% and 5%), respectively, while it reduced the total ash (27% and 17%) and dry matter digestibility (22% and 8%). Also, foliar application of nano-fertilizers improved forage quality traits such as crude protein, total ash, dry matter digestibility and soluble carbohydrate content and unfavorable qualitative traits such as neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and crude fiber decreased.

Therefore, in order to improve the growth, increase the quality of quinoa forage, and reduce the effects of salinity stress, foliar application with various nano-fertilizers, especially calcium nano-fertilizer, is highly recommended.