1 
Plant Production Department, Desert Research Center, 1 Mathaf El Matarya St. Cairo - Egypt, *corresponding author: o.a.shalaby@gmail.com
 
 
Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 111 - 2, september 2018   str. 349 - 356  
 
 
doi:10.14720/aas.2018.111.2.10           Original research article / izvirni znanstveni članek 
    
 
Humic acid and boron treatment to mitigate salt stress on the melon plant 
 
Osama Abd El-Salam SHALABY*, Mohamed Moustafa EL-MESSAIRY 
 
Received January 16, 2018; accepted June 29, 2018. 
Delo je prispelo 16. januarja 2018, sprejeto 29. junija 2018. 
 
 
ABSTRACT 
 
Salinity is one of the main abiotic stress factors which limit 
the growth and productivity of plants, however, the nutritional 
status of plants is the first brick in the resistance wall against 
stresses. Therefore, a factorial experiment was undertaken to 
investigate effects of soil applied humic acid (0, 7, 14, 21 l.ha
-
1
) and boron foliar spraying (0, 50, 100 ppm) and their 
interaction on growth and yield of melon plant under saline 
conditions. The results suggested that treatments, soil 
application of humic acid and boron foliar spray, successfully 
mitigated the deleterious effects of salt stress and influenced 
growth and yield of melon plant. Humic acid at 21 l.ha
-1
 or 
boron spray at 50 ppm exhibited an improvement in growth 
and yield of melon, in terms of plant length, plant fresh and 
dry mass, chlorophyll (SPAD), fruit mass, total yield, and also 
leaf nutrient content (N and K) and total soluble solids (TSS) 
of fruits, while reduced the sodium content of leaves. The 
combined treatment of humic acid at 21 l.ha
-1
 and boron 
spraying at 50 ppm was found to be more effective for the 
melon plant to improving growth performance and the crop 
yield by 21 % as compared with the control group under saline 
conditions. 
 
Key words: melon; salt stress; humic acid; boron foliar spray 
 
 
 
 
 
 
IZVLEČEK 
   
OBRAVNAVANJE S HUMINSKO KISLINO IN BOROM 
ZA OBLAŽITEV SOLNEGA STRESA PRI MELONI 
Slanostni stres je eden izmed najpomembnejših abiotskih 
stresnih dejavnikov, ki omejuje rast in produktivnost rastlin in 
prehranjenost rastline je prvi člen v odportnosti proti temu 
stresu. V ta name je bil izveden faktorski poskus za 
preučevanje učinkov talnega dodajanja huminske kisline (0, 7, 
14, 21 l.ha
-1
) in foliarnega škropljenja z borom (0, 50, 100 
ppm) ter njune interkacije na rast in pridelek melon v 
razmerah slanostnega stresa. Na osnovi rezultatov 
priporočamo talno uporabo huminske kisline in foliarno 
škropljenje z borom za uspešno odpravo škodljivih učinkov 
solnega stresa na rast in pridelek melon. Huminska kislina (21 
l ha
-1
) ali škropljenje z borom (50 ppm) sta izboljšala rast in 
pridelek melon preko naslednjih dejavnikov: dolžine rastlin, 
njihove sveže in suhe mase, vsebnosti klorofila (SPAD), mase 
plodov, pridelka, vsebnosti hranil v listih (N in K) in 
celokupne vsebnosti topnih snovi v plodovih (TSS), ob 
hkratnem zmanjšanju vsebnost natrija v listih. Kombinirano 
obravnavanje s huminsko kislino (21 l.ha
-1
) in škropljenje z 
borom (50 ppm) se je izkazalo za bolj učinkovito. Pridelek 
melon je bil v razmerah slanosti v primerjavi s kontrolo za 
21 % večji. 
 
Ključne besede: melona; solni stres; huminska kislina; 
foliarno škropljenje z borom 
1 INTRODUCTION 
 
Salinity of both soil and water in the arid and semi-arid 
regions is one of the major concerns facing the 
development in the agricultural sector in these regions, 
higher salt concentrations and excess exchangeable 
sodium in the soil has led to the deterioration of soil 
structure and make plants suffer more, the harmful 
effects of salinity on plants occur due to its adverse 
effects on osmotic potential, photosynthesis and protein 
synthesis (Ouni et al., 2014). Salinity negatively affects 
soil fertility, inhibit plant growth and reduce the 
productivity via to the excess uptake of some toxic ions, 
and lack of availability of water and essential nutrients 
(Khaled, 2011). Romero et al. 1997, Kaya et al. 2007 
observed a significant decrease in the plant growth, 
fresh mass, fruit yield, contents of Ca, K and N, and 
chlorophyll, as well as the rates of photosynthesis and 
transpiration, while the Na uptake has increased in the 
melon plant under salt stress conditions. The high salt 
concentration in the soil solution decreases the water 
potential, reduces the osmotic potential of plant cells, 

O. A. SHALABY and M. M. EL-MESSAIRY
 
 
 
Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 111 - 2, september 2018    
350 
and slow down the division and elongation of plant cells 
(Kusvuran et al. 2007). Humic acid is an organic matter 
found naturally in the soil, provide several benefits to 
the soil with regard to structure improvement, retain 
moisture and microbial activity, also act as a chelating 
agent, which prevent fixation, leaching, and oxidation of 
elements and thus promote the ion exchange capacity 
and nutrient availability in the soil (Ouni et al., 2014), 
humic acid is one of the organic-mineral fertilizers that 
increases the soil fertility (Kahraman, 2017), has 
positive effects at the different stages of plant growth, 
from seed germination and seedling growth to the 
development of shoots and roots (Adani et al.,1998), 
acts like the plant growth regulators, stimulates growth, 
development and yield (Karakurt et al., 2009), enhances 
enzyme activity and the permeability of cell membranes 
(Asri et al.,2015). A good conditioner for the saline soil 
which reduces the uptake of toxic elements e.g. sodium 
ions and increases the plant's ability to resist the 
deleterious effects of salt stress (Aydin et al., 2012). 
Boron is one of the essential micronutrient elements, 
boron in the proper concentration has several 
physiological roles within the plant including the 
function and integrity of cell walls and membranes, 
sugar transport, differentiation, and root elongation, as 
well as the metabolism of protein, carbohydrate, nucleic 
acid, and indole acetic acid (Pinho et al., 2010), plays a 
vital role in the division and elongation of plant cells as 
well as in the osmotic adjustment, metabolism of 
phenols and oxidative stress (Naeem et al., 2017). It is 
necessary for the flowering and fruiting processes, from 
the germination of pollen and growth of pollen tube to 
growth and development of fruit (Krudnak et al., 2013), 
enhances the nutrient status, marketable yield and shelf 
life of fruits (Davis et al., 2003). Boron foliar spray 
mitigates the deleterious effects of salt stress and 
enhances the growth performance and productivity 
(Hellal et al., 2015). However, the availability of boron 
element decreases when the soil pH is higher than 7 in 
the saline-alkaline soil (Brady, 1990), boron deficiency 
has an unfavorable impact on the physiological 
processes of plants, thus diminishing growth and yield 
of plants (Pinho et al., 2010). 
 
Melon (Cucumis melo ‘Galia’) is one of the popular 
vegetables in Egypt, belonging to the Cucurbitaceae 
family. Melon is classified as a moderately sensitive 
crop to salinity (Olave and Guzman, 2004). Salinity is 
the most important problem facing the cultivation of 
melon plant in the dry and semi-dry regions (Kusvuran 
et al. 2007). Yasar et al 2006 reported that salt stress 
causes plant growth inhibition as well as metabolic 
disturbances, consequently losses of yield and quality. 
Our experiment was designed to investigate the 
influence of soil application of humic acid and boron 
foliar spray on melon plants grown under saline 
conditions and to determine their roles in reducing the 
damage of salt stress on plants. 
 
 
2 MATERIALS AND METHODS 
 
The experiment was conducted at the experimental farm 
of Desert Research Center at Ras Sudr, Sinai, Egypt in 
2015 and 2016. Soil samples were taken from the 
experimental site and analyzed according to the 
methods described by Klute (1986) and Page et al. 
(1982), detailed soil description is provided in Table 1. 
 
Table1: Chemical properties of the experimental soil 
 
 
Based on the soil analysis the soil pH is 7.7, indicating a 
decrease in the availability of boron under these 
conditions (Brady, 1990). The experiment was arranged 
in a split plot design with three replications, the main 
plot factor was humic acid levels (0, 7, 14, 21 l.ha
-1
) and 
the subplot factor was boron foliar application levels (0, 
50, 100 ppm) after consideration of previous studies. 
Humic acid treatment was carried out in the soil using a 
potassium humate compound 83 % obtained from 
Union company for agricultural development. Boron 
applications were made using boric acid (B 17 %) with 
a back-sprayer, while the humic acid treatments were 
performed through the drip irrigation system. In the 
fourth week of March, the 30 days old seedlings of 
Depth 
(cm) 
pH 
E.C  
(dS/m) 
Saturation soluble extract 
(mg.100 g
-1
) 
Available nutrients 
(mg kg
-1
) 
Cations Anions 
N P K Fe 
Ca
++
 Mg
++
 Na
+
 CO
3
-
 HCO
3
-
 Cl
-
 SO
4
=
 
0-30 
7.7 8.65 24.5 5.2 57.2 0.0 6.0 61.5 26.2 26.0 5.1 51.5 4.2 
30-60 
7.9 7.35 16.8 3.8 42.5 0.0 3.5 49.0 23.5 18.5 3.4 35.3 3.4 

Humic acid and boron treatment to mitigate salt stress on the melon plant 
 
 
Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 111 - 2, september 2018    
351 
melon (Cucumis melo ‘Galia’) were transplanted into 
the soil at a spacing of 50 cm within rows, where each 
plot contained 5 rows, 4 m in length. Standard 
agricultural practices were followed for fertilization, 
irrigation, and pesticides for all experimental plots as 
per the recommendations of the Egyptian Ministry of 
Agriculture, ,except for the application of humic acid 
and boron spraying treatments which were conducted 
three times with a 15-day interval, starting from two 
weeks after transplanting. Five plants per treatment 
were harvested after 60 days after transplanting, and 
plant length, fresh mass and chlorophyll reading 
(SPAD) were recorded. Plant samples were washed with 
distilled water and dried at 70 
o
C for 72 h, and dry mass 
of plants was determined. For chemical analysis, plant 
leaf samples were dried, ground and digested with 
concentrated sulfuric acid, and then nitrogen content 
was determined according to the Kjeldahl method 
(Jackson, 1973), and flame photometer was used for the 
potassium, calcium and sodium analyses, while 
phosphorus was determined by spectrophotometric 
method (Irri, 1976). Yield measurements were also 
taken, such as fruit mass, fruit soluble solids (TSS) 
using a hand-held refractometer and total yield. Data for 
this study were analyzed statistically using the MSTAT 
software (MSTAT-C, 1991), and significant differences 
between means were obtained using Duncan's multiple 
range test at a significance level of P < 0.05 as described 
by Snedecor and Cochran (1982). 
 
 
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 
 
3.1 Vegetative growth 
Soil-applied humic acid has a significant impact on 
growth and development of melon plants under saline 
conditions as shown in Fig.1. Increasing concentrations 
of humic acid caused a gradual increase in the 
vegetative growth parameters in terms of plant length, 
leaf chlorophyll reading (SPAD), and fresh and dry 
mass as compared with the control group. Maximum 
values of growth parameters were recorded at 21 l.ha
-1 
of humic acid. 
 
0 7 1 4 2 1
0
2 5
5 0
7 5
1 0 0
1 2 5
1 5 0
1 7 5
P la n t le n g h t (c m )
f
e
d
c
d
e
e
ab ab
a
b c
d
B 0 B
B 5 0 A
B 1 0 0 A
H A 0 D
H A 7 C
H A 14 B
H A 21 A
0 7 1 4 2 1
0
5 0
1 0 0
1 5 0
2 0 0
2 5 0
3 0 0
3 5 0
4 0 0
4 5 0
F re s h w e ig h t (g )
B o ro n 0
B oro n 50
B o ron 1 00
i
h
g
b
e f
a
c
f
h
d
d e
b
B 0 C
B 5 0 A
B 1 0 0 B
H A 0 D
H A 7 C
H A 14 B
H A 21 A
0 7 1 4 2 1
0
1 0
2 0
3 0
4 0
5 0
6 0
D ry w e ig h t (g )
H u m ic a c id le v e ls (l.h a
-1
)
gh
d e
c d e
fg
e f
a
b c
gh
b c d
b
d e
h
B 0 B
B 5 0 A
B 1 0 0 B
H A 0 D
H A 7 C
H A 14 B
H A 21 A
0 7 1 4 2 1
1 0
2 0
3 0
4 0
5 0
6 0
C h lo ro p h y ll (S p a d )
H u m ic a c id le v e ls (l.h a
-1
)
fg
e fg d e fg
a b c
b cd
c d e f
b cd
a b
b c d e
g
c d e f
a
B 0 B
B 5 0 A
B 10 0 A B
H A 0 C
H A 7 B C
H A 14 A B
H A 21 A
 
Figure 1: Main effects and interactions for humic acid and boron on plant length, plant fresh and dry mass and 
chlorophyll content of melon plants grown under saline conditions 

O. A. SHALABY and M. M. EL-MESSAIRY
 
 
 
Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 111 - 2, september 2018    
352 
 
The promotion of vegetative growth by humic acid 
application has also been reported in many studies, 
Adani et al. (1998) on tomato, Karakurt et al. (2009) on 
pepper, Aydin et al. (2012) on bean under salt stress, 
and Mirdad (2016) on lettuce.Ahmad et al. (2016) found 
that the humic acid application at 20 kg ha
-1
 improved 
growth of canola plant, while 70 kg ha
-1 
was the most 
appropriate for cowpea growth (Kahraman, 2017). 
Boron spray improves vegetative growth of melon plant, 
plant growth parameters (plant length, leaf chlorophyll 
reading, plant fresh and dry mass) were significantly 
increased by the boron application (Fig.1). The highest 
values of growth parameters were recorded with boron 
spray 50 ppm. These results are in agreement with 
Davis et al. (2003) on tomato, Baranwal et al. (2017) on 
guava and Hellal et al. (2015) on faba bean under salt 
stress. The interaction between humic acid and boron 
had a synergistic impact on the vegetative growth under 
salt stress conditions, 21 l.ha
-1 
of humic acid plus 50 
ppm boron spray was the superior treatment for the 
melon plant. 
3.2 Chemical components 
The data in Figs. 2 and 3 indicate that chemical 
components of the melon plant were significantly 
affected by humic acid treatment. The content of 
potassium and nitrogen in leaves and TSS of fruits were 
increased, whereas calcium and sodium contents in 
leaves were decreased with increasing levels of humic 
acid. 21 l.ha
-1 
of humic acid led to the highest values of 
N, K, and TSS contents and the lowest values of Ca and 
Na. However, under salt stress conditions the potassium 
absorption is markedly reduced due to the competitive 
effect with sodium, where plants absorb Na ions more 
than necessity, resulting in malnutrition status in plants 
grown under these conditions (Kusvuran et al. 2007). 
These results are in consonance with the finding of 
Khaled (2011) for N, K, and Na in corn, Asri et al. 
(2015) for N, K, and TSS in tomato, Ahmad et al. 
(2016) for N and K in canola, Mirdad (2016) for N, K 
and TSS in lettuce, Kahraman (2017) for K and Ca in 
cowpea, as well as, humic acid increases the contents of 
N and K, and decreases sodium content of bean plant 
under saline conditions (Aydin et al., 2012). The 
positive effect of humic acid on plants may be due to 
improving chemical, physical and biological properties 
of the soil, elements chelation and pH adjustment 
(Karakurt et al., 2009), thus the low soil pH may affect 
plant growth indirectly, at the low soil pH the 
availability of many elements increases while the other 
nutrients such as calcium were limited (Yan et al. 1992). 
Boron foliar application led to significant increases in 
the contents of N, K, and Ca in plant leaf, and fruit TSS, 
while the sodium content in leaves was decreased as 
compared with the control group, however, the increase 
and decrease in the chemical parameters were highly 
statistically significant in plants sprayed with 50 ppm of 
boron. The effect of boron spray on the content of 
chemical parameters in plants has also been observed by 
Davis et al. (2003) for N, K and Ca in tomato, Hellal et 
al. (2015) for K, Ca and Na in faba bean and Baranwal 
et al. (2017) for TSS in guava fruits. A cooperative 
interaction between the humic acid 21 l.ha
-1 
and boron 
spray 50 ppm was obtained, which increased N, K, and 
TSS values and decreased Na and Ca values, whereas 
the highest values of Na and Ca were recorded with the 
control treatment. 

Humic acid and boron treatment to mitigate salt stress on the melon plant 
 
 
Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 111 - 2, september 2018    
353 
0 7 1 4 2 1
0 .0
0 .5
1 .0
1 .5
2 .0
2 .5
3 .0
3 .5
4 .0
4 .5
N itro g e n (% )
h
gh
d e
c d
b
b cd
b c
d e f
a
a
fg e fg
B 0 B
B 5 0 A
B 1 0 0 A
H A 0 D
H A 7 C
H A 14 B
H A 21 A
0 7 1 4 2 1
0 .0
0 .5
1 .0
1 .5
2 .0
2 .5
3 .0
3 .5
4 .0
P o ta s s iu m (% )
B o ro n 0
B oro n 50
B o ron 1 00
f
c
c
e
d
c
b
b
a
c
a b
c
B 0 C
B 5 0 A
B 1 0 0 B
H A 0 D
H A 7 C
H A 14 B
H A 21 A
0 7 1 4 2 1
0 .0
0 .5
1 .0
1 .5
2 .0
2 .5
C a lc iu m (% )
a
b
a
a
a
b
c
c
d
c d
b
b
B 0 B
B 5 0 A
B 1 0 0 A
H A 0 A
H A 7 A
H A 14 B
H A 2 1 C
H u m ic a c id le v e ls (l.h a
-1
)
0 7 1 4 2 1
0 .0
0 .1
0 .2
0 .3
0 .4
0 .5
0 .6
0 .7
S o d iu m (% )
a
b
b c
c
d e
c d
e
f
g g
f f
B 0 A
B 5 0 B
B 1 0 0 B
H A 0 A
H A 7 A B
H A 14 A B
H A 21 B
H u m ic a c id le v e ls (l.h a
-1
)
Figure 2: Main effects and interactions for humic acid and boron on nitrogen, potassium, calcium and sodium 
contents of melon plants grown under saline conditions 
 
0 7 1 4 2 1
0
2
4
6
8
1 0
1 2
T S S (B rix )
B o ro n 0
B oro n 50
B o ron 1 00
gh
hi i
g
d e
e f
f
c
c d
a
b
d e
B 0 C
B 5 0 A
B 1 0 0 B
H A 0 D
H A 7 C
H A 14 B
H A 21 A
H u m ic a c id le v e ls (l.h a
-1
)
 
Figure 3: Main effects and interactions for humic acid and boron on TSS content of melon fruits under saline 
conditions 
 
 
 
 
 

O. A. SHALABY and M. M. EL-MESSAIRY
 
 
 
Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 111 - 2, september 2018    
354 
3.3 Yield 
A significant increase in fruit mass and total yield of the 
melon plant was obtained with increasing levels of 
humic acid under saline conditions as shown in Fig. 4. 
Fruit mass and total yield were correlated positively and 
significantly with the soil application of humic acid, the 
increase was more pronounced in the plants which 
received 21 l.ha
-1 
of humic acid. There are many studies 
that indicate the stimulatory influence of humic acid on 
crop productivity Karakurt et al. (2009) in pepper, Asri 
et al. (2015) in tomato, Ahmad et al. (2016) in canola 
and Kahraman (2017) in cowpea. Fruit mass and total 
yield of the melon plant were significantly increased 
with boron foliar spray (Fig. 4). The maximum values 
of fruit mass and total yield were obtained by the 
application of boron spray 50 ppm. The promotion 
effect of boron application on the plant productivity has 
also been detected by many studies, Davis et al. (2003) 
in tomato, Baranwal et al. (2017) in guava ,also by 
Hellal et al. (2015) in faba bean under saline conditions. 
The interaction between humic acid and boron showed a 
positive effect on the yield of melon under saline 
conditions, the highest values for fruit mass and total 
yield were recorded in plants received 21 l.ha
-1 
of humic 
acid plus 50 ppm of boron spray. 
 
0 7 1 4 2 1
0 .0
0 .1
0 .2
0 .3
0 .4
0 .5
F ru it w e ig h t (K g )
c d e
e
d e
c d e
b c
c d
c d
b c b c
b c
a b
a
B 0 B
B 5 0 A
B 1 0 0 A
H A 0 C
H A 7 B
H A 14 B
H A 21 A
H u m ic a c id le v e ls (l.h a
-1
)
0 7 1 4 2 1
0
3
6
9
1 2
1 5
1 8
2 1
2 4
T o ta l y ie ld (to n .h a
-1
)
B o ro n 0
B oro n 50
B o ron 1 00
f fg
h
d
e
g
c
e
c d c d
b
a
B 0 C
B 5 0 A
B 1 0 0 B
H A 0 D
H A 7 C
H A 14 B
H A 21 A
H u m ic a c id le v e ls (l.h a
-1
)
Figure 4: Main effects and interactions for humic acid and boron on fruit mass and total yield of melon plants 
grown under saline conditions 
 
Humic acid increases the permeability of the cell 
membrane and transportation of nutrients (Aydin et al., 
2012), as well as increases the root elongation and 
growth of lateral roots and root hairs and decreases the 
electrical conductivity of soil (Ahmad et al., 2016). 
Boron application stimulates the physiological 
processes within plants under salinity conditions such as 
osmotic adjustment, photosynthetic rate, antioxidant 
enzymes activity (superoxide dismutase, catalase, 
peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase), and total protein 
and nucleoprotein synthesis (Naeem et al., 2017), also 
affect flowering process, it increases viability and 
germination of pollen and promotes the fruit 
composition (Kroenke et al., 2013). These effects 
together could mitigate the adverse impact of salt stress 
on plant and increase nutrient availability in the soil and 
ability of plant roots to uptake the nutrients, thus the 
contents of potassium and nitrogen in plant leaves has 
increased, hence, improved the vegetative growth 
performance and increased crop yield of melon plant 
under saline conditions. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Humic acid and boron treatment to mitigate salt stress on the melon plant 
 
 
Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 111 - 2, september 2018    
355 
4 CONCLUSIONS 
 
1- The deleterious effect of salt stress on 
melon plant has been alleviated by the 
treatments with humic acid and boron. 
2- Vegetative growth and chemical contents 
of melon plants improved under saline 
conditions using humic acid and boron 
treatments. 
3- The fruit mass, fruit TSS and total yield 
were increased in the plants receiving 
humic acid or boron. 
4- Plants grown under saline conditions 
received a double benefit through the 
treatment with humic acid and boron. The 
best results were obtained by the 
combination of soil-applied humic acid at 
21 l.ha
-1 
and boron spray at 50 ppm. 
 
 
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