ROLE OF SOME MICRONUTRIENTS IN IMPROVING PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY OF SEEDS IN CHIA PLANTS (SALVIA HISPANICA L.) IN SANDY SOIL

Chia plant (Salvia hispanica L.) is a new crop introduced to the Egyptian agriculture system to enrich it with new species of medicinal plants that have healthy and beneficial ingredients. The purpose of this work was to study the possibility of improvement growth, seed yield, fixed oil production and chemical constituents of chia plants in response to various micronutrients under sandy soil conditions. The field experiment was conducted in the Experimental Farm of EL-Quassassin, Horticulture Research Station, Ismailia Governorate, Egypt. The treatments were (1) control (spray only with tap water), (2) boron (B) at 50 ppm, (3) boron (B) at 100 ppm, (4) iron (Fe) at 100 ppm, (5) iron (Fe) at 200 ppm, (6) zinc (Zn) at 100 ppm, (7) zinc (Zn) at 200 ppm, (8) combination of B (50 ppm) + Fe (100 ppm) + Zn (100 ppm) and (9) combination of B (100 ppm) + Fe (200 ppm) + Zn (200 ppm). In general, the results showed that the growth, seed yield, fixed oil yield, and chemical measurements of chia plant, such as fixed oil composition (fatty acids), photosynthetic pigments content, macro-and micronutrients, total carbohydrates, protein content, total phenols and antioxidant activity of the oil were improved by foliar application of micronutrients solely or in combination compared to control in both seasons. Combination of boron (50 ppm) + iron (100 ppm) + zinc (100 ppm), followed by a combination of B (100 ppm) + Fe (200 ppm) + Zn (200 ppm) led to the highest increases with no significant difference between them in most cases. GC for fixed oil of chia seeds revealed the estimation of seven components i.e., lauric, myristic, palmitic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic and arachidic acids. The main component was linolenic acid (55.34 to 61.43%). The highest percentage of linolenic acid achieved with the combination treatment of B (50 ppm) + Fe (100 ppm) + Zn (100 ppm). While, combination of B (100 ppm) + Fe (200 ppm) + Zn (200 ppm) had significant increases in total phenols and oil antioxidant activity over the control. The improvement of growth, seed yield, oil production and their quality of Salvia hispanica L. by the foliar spraying of these micronutrients may be useful for growing and productivity of plants in Egyptian sandy soil conditions