the effect of perlite particle size and deficiency of some essential nutrients on growth and physiological characteristics of radish

This experiment aims to compare the effect of deficiency of macro and micro nutrients and perlite particles size on radish, in the factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications. factors include deficiency of nutrient elements (control, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, boron, and zinc) and growing media tested were small, medium and large perlite particles size. the results indicated that dry and fresh weight of the taproot, dry and fresh weight of the root, dry and fresh weight of shoot, leaf area, numbers of leaves decreased under nutritional deficiencies as among the high consumption nutrients, the nitrogen deficiency had the greatest effect on reducing vegetative traits. the results also showed that the amount of total soluble sugars of leaves in nitrogen and boron deficiency respectively had the highest and lowest increase. chlorophyll content and chlorophyll fluorescence indices also had the highest and lowest decrease under nitrogen and boron deficiency conditions respectively. the amount of vitamin c in the taproot also decreased under conditions of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium and iron deficiency. the results also showed that perlite particles size had a significant effect on the value of these indices and the big size of perlite particles caused a significant decrease in growth indices, mineral elements concentration and photosynthetic pigments. according to the results of this study, it seems that the small size of perlite in substrate was better to absorb the nutrients and therefore suitable for proper growth of radish.