Effect of Al-Nibras and Kinglife nutrient solutions on yield, agronomic traits, and soil nutrient availability in two eggplant cultivars (Barcelona and Jawaher)

Foliar nutrition is considered an effective approach to enhance crop productivity and quality. In a field experiment conducted at the College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad, during the 2023 – 2024 agricultural season, the effects of two foliar nutrient solutions (Al-Nibras and Kinglife) on eggplant yield, its traits, and soil nutrient availability were evaluated for two cultivars: Barcelona and Jawaher. The main plot was assigned to cultivar type, the subplot to foliar fertilizer type, and the sub-subplot to spray concentration (0, 3, 6, and 9 g/L). It was found that the Jawaher cultivar outperformed the Barcelona cultivar in terms of plant height, number of branches, number of fruits per plant, and the contents of the soil molybdenum, iron, and zinc. In addition, the foliar fertilizer Kinglife was consistently better than the Al-Nibras in all traits. All characteristics were markedly affected by spraying concentration; particularly, the highest averages of plant height (100.39 cm), the number of branches (7.68 branches/plant), the number of fruits (50.7 fruits/plant), and nutrients in the soil availability: Mo (0.113 mg/kg), Fe (5.04 mg/kg), and Zn (1.68 mg/kg) were achieved using 9 g/L Al-Nibras/Kinglife. The interaction between the Jawaher cultivar and Kinglife fertilizer had the most pronounced superiority in all studied features, recording the highest values of 96.57 cm (plant height), 7.78 branches/plant, 50.6 fruits/plant, 0.169 mg/kg for molybdenum, 6.45 mg/kg for iron, and 2.73 mg/kg for zinc. These findings indicate that the choices of cultivar, fertilizer, and spray concentration are important in increasing the yield of eggplant and enriching soil nutrients.