Alleviation of salinity stress in red cabbage plants by urea and sulfur applications

Abstract

Environmental stresses, such as salinity, are becoming critical constraints to plant production especially in arid and semi-arid regions, one of the main targets of agricultural studies is to combat the environmental stresses on plants. An open field experiment was carried out to study the influence of sulfur (S) and urea on red cabbage plants under salt stress. The experiment was arranged as a split-plot design with three replications, the main plots included sulfur levels (0, 350, and 700 kg ha−1), while subplots included urea levels (0, 1, 2, and 4 g L−1). Results showed that urea spraying and sulfur soil additions resulted in improvement of growth and yield, and raised the level of potassium and nitrogen while lowering sodium content in plant leaves under salt stress conditions. Generally, larger and heavier heads were found with the application of 700 kg ha−1 sulfur and 2 g L−1 urea.