EFFECT OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZATION, BIOFERTILIZER AND THIDIAZURON ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF CELERY (APIUM GRAVEOLENS L.) PLANT.

This study was conducted duringtwo successive seasons of 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 at Biotechnology Department, Phytochemistry Department and Farm of Applied Research Center of Medicinal Plants (ARCMP) affiliated to the National Organization for Drug Control And Research (NODCAR). The present work aimed to investigate the effect of inoculation Apium graveolens L. seeds with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (my) and/or microbein (mi) biofertilizer and foliar spray plants with Thidiazuron (TDZ)  combined with chemical fertilizer at half or full dose of NPK on number of spores Am fungi (kg soil^-1), AM fungi colonization , enzymatic activities  (dehydrogenase activity [µg TPF/g dry soil/day] & Nitrogenase activity [nmol C₂H₄/g rhizosphere/ hour]), growth parameters (fresh weight of shoots per plant (g), fresh weight of roots per plant (g), dry weight of shoots per plant (g), dry weight of roots per plant (g), Plant height (cm), number of umbel per plant [at full flowering stage] & dry weight of fruits per plant [at harvest stage]) and chemical composition (plant pigments [chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoides], macro elements content (%), total carbohydrates, and crude protein). The results in both seasons showed that, the highest values of number of AM fungi spores (kg soil^-1) in celery (Apium graveolens L.) roots, AM fungi colonization %, enzymatic activities, growth parametersand chemical composition obtained at inoculating seeds with mixture of mycorrhizal and mycrobein at full dose of NPK.