Assessment of the water quality of Al-Jazirah River, east of Basra, and its effects on the growth of sunflower plants exposed to phosphate fertilizer

Abstract

Water samples were collected from twelve sites from the Al-Jazirah River, the Jibasi River, the Bab Al-Hawa River, and the Al-Faw River, in four locations each, during January 2019. Chemical analyses of the water were carried out and classified according to some international classifications to assess its quality. The agricultural experiment was carried out in the wooden canopy of the Department of Soil Sciences and Water Resources at the College of Agriculture / University of Basra in Karmat Ali for the spring season of 2020 to study the effect of Al Jazeera water in the above sites and the effect of adding four levels of phosphate fertilizer (0, 40, 80, 120) kg P ha-1 on sunflower plant growth. The results showed a significant decrease in the values ​​of height and dry weight of the vegetative total of sunflower plants according to the values ​​of water salinity and pollution, and there was an increase in the phosphorous concentration in the studied plants with an increase in the level of added phosphorus, as the concentration of 120 kg P ha-1 recorded the highest percentages in the growth vocabulary of sunflower plants.