Effect of Corm Size, Aloe Vera Gel and Biofertilizers on the Growth of Freesia Plant Freesia hybrid L.

The experiment was conducted in the plastic house of the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering in the College of Agriculture and Forestry/University of Mosul. During the period from ((10/27/2021) to (7/22/2022) to study the effect of the size of corms, aloe vera gel, and bio fertilizers on the growth of the freesia plant. The experiment was carried out using a randomized complete block design with three factors, which is the cultivation of freesia plants in large and small sizes and the treatment with three concentrations of aloe vera gel (zero - 25% - 50% - 100%) ml / liter, in addition to the comparison treatment, where the corms were immersed in distilled water only, and the two types of biological fertilizers, the first type represented by the fungal bio fertilizer Trichoderma harzinum (T-22) and Bio health, and the data were analyzed statistically using the SAS program, and the results were tested according to Dunkin’s multinomial test under the probability level of 5%. The results showed a significant superiority of the size of the treated corms in each of plant height, leaf area, The length of the main Inflorescence, and the number of florets on the main Inflorescence, which reached 23.08 cm, 79.21 cm2, 13.90 cm, and 9.09 florets, respectively, compared to the treated small corms, which amounted to 20.29 cm, 60.59cm2, 11.43cm, and 8.61 florets, as well as in the content of freesia leaves for each of nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbohydrates, at rates of 3.03%, 0.28%, and 0.57%, respectively, while no significant differences appeared in their content of potassium and chlorophyll compared to the standard treatment. And through the concentrations of the four aloe vera gels used, it became clear that the best one was with a concentration of 100% in each of the plant height, leaf area, The length of the main Inflorescence, and the number of florets on the main Inflorescence, which were 22.51 cm, 74.70 cm2, 13.50 cm, and 9.99 florets, respectively. In addition, the fourth concentration had an effective positive effect on the content of plant leaves of N, K, and P, at rates of 3.00%, 0.28%, and 0.93%, respectively. In each of the plant height and the number of florets on the main Inflorescence It turned out that the positive effect of bio health fertilizer it reached 25.58 cm and 10.13 florets, respectively, which differed significantly with fungal bio fertilizer (T-22), while there were no significant differences in the fertilizer treatments (bio fertilizers and bio health) in each of the leaf areas and the length of the stem.


Introduction
Freesia hybrid L. belongs to the Iris family, Iridaceae, and includes more than 50 genera.It is a monocotyledonous perennial winter plant, native to the mountainous regions of South Africa.It is usually grown as cut flowers because of its attractive appearance and different colors, suitable for flower arrangements.The flowers are a symbol of innocence and friendship, and it is also grown as flowering potted plants.The agricultural distances between freesia plants for the production of cut flowers range from 5-7 cm and a planting depth of 5 cm, with an agricultural density of 96-120 vines.m 2 [1][2][3].Freesia ranks seventh globally among ornamental flowers The plant is characterized by leaves of a green color, flat, sharp stripes, and funnel-shaped flowers with an attractive aromatic scent.The flowers are located in a comb holder inclined at a right angle of 90° C. It consists of flowers ranging in number between 4-10 and of various colors between red, yellow, blue, orange, white and cream [2,4,5].Aloe vera is a perennial succulent plant that is resistant to drought, with tissues adapted to store water in the leaves, especially in dry areas with little rain.The leaves are striped or mottled [6].Aloe vera gel is important for plant growth because it contains plant hormones such as GA3 and IAA, which has an important role in elongating cells and promoting stem growth.Therefore, aloe vera gel can be considered as a bio stimulant for plants and can be used as a source of hormones instead of artificial growth regulators [7,8].The direct effect of aloe vera extract is its effect on increasing the permeability of cell membranes, which in turn affects the amount of dry matter and the absorption of plant nutrients [9].The positive effect of aloe vera gel on plant growth is attributed to its containment of organic compounds, amino acids, plant hormones, vitamins, and its effect on protein synthesis and increasing cell division and expansion [10][11][12].In addition, it activates plant enzymes, increases the permeability of cell membranes, ion transport, oxygen absorption, respiration, photosynthesis, root elongation, and its effects on various growth factors in plants [13][14][15][16].There is a current interest in agricultural sustainability by using biological fertilizers instead of using chemical fertilizers and achieving acceptable returns [17].But on the other hand, there are limitations in the use of bio fertilizers, which is the insufficient awareness about vital vaccines and the lack of a network of promotion and publicity among users or farmers.bio fertilizers are one of the important technologies that entered the agricultural field to increase production and improve quality characteristics.A role in preserving the ecosystem, improving the chemical, physical and biological properties of the soil, supporting plant health and increasing productivity [18,19].Bio-fertilizers are environmentally friendly in addition to being sustainable and effective, so bio-fertilizers that contain microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and algae are used as solutions that are applicable to large-scale agricultural applications, being free from environmental pollutants and also preserving the soil structure [20].

Materials and Methods
The experiment was conducted in the plastic house of the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Engineering at the College of Agriculture and Forestry / University of Mosul in the agricultural season 2021-2022 to demonstrate the effect of corms size, aloe vera gel and bio fertilizers.In the growth of the freesia plant, the corms were planted on 10/27/2021 in plastic pots with a diameter of 22 cm in a soil consisting of sandy and mixed soil and peat moss in proportions of 1:2:1 Table (1).The experiment was carried out using a randomized complete block design with three factors, which is the cultivation of freesia plants in large and small sizes, and treatment with three concentrations of aloe vera gel (0 -25% -50% -100%) ml / liter, in addition to the comparison treatment, where the corms were immersed in distilled water.And biological fertilization after planting and the two types of biological fertilizers, the first type represented by the fungal bio fertilizer Trichoderma harzinum (T-22) and Bio health.The data were analyzed statistically using the SAS program and the results were tested according to Dunkin's multiple range test under the probability level of 5%.At the end of the experiment, on 22/7/2022, the following growth indicators were measured: First: indicators of vegetative growth:  Plant height (cm.(  Leaf area (cm 2 ) Paper area was estimated using the cloning method [21].
3  Determination of the total chlorophyll content of leaves (mg.gm -1 ): Total chlorophyll was determined by Arnon method [22]. Determination of the total soluble carbohydrate content of the leaves %: Total soluble carbohydrates were estimated using the Dubois method [23]. Estimation of the leaves content of NPK mg.kg -1 [24,25].Second: Indicators of flowering growth:  The length of the main Inflorescence (cm(. The number of florets on the main Inflorescence.

Characteristics of vegetative and flowering growth
The results of Table (2) showed the positive effect of using large-sized corms on the characteristics of vegetative and flowering growth, as the plant height, leaf area, The length of the main Inflorescence and the number of florets on the main Inflorescence, reaching 23.08 cm, 79.21 cm 2 , 13.90 cm, and 9.09cm.florets in a row, compared to the use of small corms that gave The lowest values are 20.29 cm, 60.59 cm 2 , 11.43 cm, and 8.61 florets, respectively.The reason is attributed to the fact that the large corms contain high amounts of carbohydrates, which increase with the increase in the size of the corms and their physiological maturity, which in turn is reflected in the vigor of plant growth and the characteristics of flowering growth in general.and GA3 which promotes longitudinal growth of the plant [26][27][28].On the other hand, the results of the use of aloe vera concentrations indicated a positive effect of the high concentration of the gel extract, in general, on all vegetative and flowering traits, in terms of increasing plant height, leaf area, length of the main Inflorescence , and the number of florets when treated with 100% concentration, and reached 22.51 cm, 74.70 cm 2 , 13.50 cm, and 9.99 florets.Respectively, the reason for this is due to the effectiveness of aloe vera gel because it contains plant hormones such as GA3 and IAA, carbohydrates and micronutrients, where IAA works on cell elongation and stem growth, and GA3 promotes plant height [29].The gel extract is a good source of nutrients such as potassium, calcium, iron, zinc, phosphorus, manganese and amino acids, which reflects its positive role in the growth of plant species and ornamental plants [16].It is also clear from the same table the effect of adding bio-fertilizers to the plant, as the use of bio-health fertilizer had a significant effect on each of the plant height and the number of florets on the main Inflorescence, reaching 25.58 cm and 10.13 florets, respectively, while no significant differences appeared in the data of leaf area and length of the raceme.The reason may be due to the fact that biological fertilizers consist of plant extracts extracted in different ways and carry their natural properties, and they are granules that consist of From each of the water by 10%, humic acid by 75%, Trichoderma fungi and Bacillus bacteria by 10%, and marine algae by 5%, which are soluble in water [30].

Chemical Properties
Are evident from the data of Table (3(.Significant superiority when using the size of the large corms in the content of the leaves of nitrogen, phosphorus and carbohydrates, which amounted to 3.03%, 0.28% and 0.57%, respectively, while no significant differences appeared in the content of the leaves of potassium and chlorophyll compared to the standard treatment.Through the same table, a significant superiority of concentration 100% is noted.in the content of the leaves of the macro elements NPK 3.00%, 0.28% and 0.93%, respectively, as was the case for chlorophyll at 3.69mg gm -1 , and no significant differences appeared in the content of carbohydrates in the leaves compared to the comparison treatment, and from the same table in the case of biological fertilizers, it is noted that there is no Significant differences in general and in all studied chemical properties in the experiment compared with the standard treatment.Table 3.Effect of corms size, aloe vera gel and bio-fertilizers on the chemical characterizes of freesia plant.

Conclusion
They revealed that treated corms were larger in plant height, leaf area, and The main inflorescence's length, number of florets, and content of nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbohydrates were 3.03%, 0.28%, and 0.57%, respectively, compared to the treated small corms' 20.29 cm, 60.59cm 2 , 11.43cm, and 8.61 florets.Each of the four aloe vera gel concentrations showed that 100% was optimal for plant height, leaf area, and Inflorescence length and floret count were 22.51 cm, 74.70 cm 2 , 13.50 cm, and 9.99 cm, respectively.In addition, the fourth concentration increased plant leaf N, K, and P content by 3.00%, 0.28%, and 0.93%, respectively.The plant height and major inflorescence floret count vary.Bio health fertilizer had a positive effect of 25.58 cm and 10.13 florets, which differed significantly from fungal bio fertilizer (T-22), while bio fertilizers and bio health had no significant differences in either leaf area or stem length.

Table 1 .
Chemical and physical properties of growth media.

Table 2 .
Effect of corms size, aloe vera gel and bio-fertilizers on the vegetative and flowering characterizes of freesia plant.Values with similar letters for each factor or its interactions individually do not differ significantly according to Dunkin's multiple range test under the 5% probability level. * Values with similar letters for each factor or its interactions individually do not differ significantly according to Dunkin's multiple range test under the 5% probability level. 5*