ISHS Acta Horticulturae 383: Mineral Nutrition of Deciduous Fruit Plants
LEAF ANALYSIS AS A GUIDE TO DIAGNOSIS OF NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF SUB-TROPICAL PEAR |
| Authors: | J.S. Kamboj, A.S. Dhat, G.P.S. Grewal |
| Keywords: | Leaf analysis, nutrition, pear |
| Abstract:
Pyrus pyrifolia (Burm. f. Nakai) cv. 'Patharnakh' is grown in more than seven thousand hectares in Punjab province, a sub-tropical part of India. The cv. 'LeConte' (P. communis x P. pyrifolia) is also becoming popular because of better fruit quality and is likely to increase in area. Some orchards are suffering from a deficiency of various nutrient elements resulting in lower yields. Seasonal changes in the levels of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, B, Cu, Mn and Zn in midshoot leaves on current year's growth, and in leaves from fruiting and non-fruiting spurs were studied. It was found that 4–6 month old midshoot leaves or non-fruiting spur leaves sampled between July and September in 'Patharnakh' can be used for nutritional diagnosis of the trees. In 'LeConte' this period is from mid-June to mid-August. A survey on mineral indexing conducted in 60 orchards of each of three districts revealed that on an average 20, 10 and 30 per cent orchards are deficient in N, P and K respectively in whole of the state. Whereas micro-nutrients like Zn and Fe were deficient in 10 and 5 per cent of the orchards. | |
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