Effects of soil potassium availability and absorption, perlite, and nitrogen levels on wheat plant development and yield

This study was conducted in the Al Majd area in Al Muthanna Governorate (Away from the city center, about 5 km to the north) to study the effect of perlite and nitrogen levels on potassium availability and absorption in soil, growth and yield of the wheat plant, during the agricultural season 2022-2021—a factorial field experiment, according to a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates. The experiment included two factors. The first factor is the addition of perlite with three levels (0, 1.5 and 3)% symbolized by B0, B1 and B2, respectively, while the second factor is nitrogen at five levels (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200) kg N ha-1 has the symbol N0, N1, N2, N3 and N4 respectively. The land was divided into plots, including 45 experimental units in three blocks, the area of the experimental unit (2 × 2) m2. The experimental unit included 8 lines with a length of 2 m. The distance between one line and another was 20 cm, leaving a distance of 75 cm between one replicate and another. The seeds of wheat (Bohooth 22 cultivar) were sown on 11/11/2021. The results indicated the significant effect of adding perlite at a level of 3% by volume to the soil in increasing the ready potassium in the soil when adding the first and second batches of nitrogen and harvesting, the addition of perlite at a level of 3% by volume of the soil affected the growth characteristics of the plant, including the biological yield, grain yield, potassium concentration in the plant, and the absorbed amount of potassium in the plant, nitrogen fertilizer to the soil at a level of (150 and 200) kg N ha-1 had a significant effect on the increase of ready potassium in the soil in the first and second batch of adding fertilizer. Keywords: Perlite, nitrogen, potassium availability and absorption, soil, growth, yield, wheat plant.