Enhancing of different garlic cultivars via humic substances: growth performance, productivity and storage ability

In Egypt, the goal is to meet the increasing demand for garlic crops by applying natural and organic stimulants to boost garlic yield and utilizing sustainable farming methods. Therefore, a field experiment over two consecutive winter seasons, 2021/2022 and 2022/2023, under split plot experimental design aiming to evaluate the response of two garlic cultivars in terms of growth, yield components, chemical composition, and storage capacity (Sids-40 and Balady) as main factor to soil addition of humic substances (potassium humate and potassium fulvate at a rate of 5.0 kg per feddan) as sub main factor. Results indicated that, as for the garlic cultivars, the sids-40 had the highest values for all examined traits (leaf fresh weight, neck diameter, bulb ratio, leaf dry matter, total yield, bulb diameter, bulb weight, clove weight, N, P, K, protein, and total carbohydrate contents), except plant height, bulb dry matter, sulfur content, and bulb weight loss. Concerning humic substances, the highest values for all examined traits were observed when potassium humate was applied, followed by potassium fulvate and then the control group. Generally, treating garlic plants with potassium humate yielded favorable results. So, it could be recommended to use the humate substances at a rate of 5.0 kg per feddan to enhance garlic growth performance, productivity, and storage.