NUTRIENT LEACHING IN A DRIP IRRIGATED PEACH ORCHARD

An experimental peach orchard (cv Flavortop), planted in 1978 by the Ente di Sviluppo Agricolo del Lazio (ERSAL) (Board of Agricultural. Development in Lazio), was used to test the possibility of vertical soil migration of the main nutrients at four distances along the rows, at five distances between the rows and at four different depths, for each of the four volumes of irrigation being tested.

Therefore, 144 samples of soil were analyzed (36 for each of the four irrigation volumes being tested).

The results of the analyses show that nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium are transferred to the bottom layers of the soil, especially in the treatments involving higher volumes of irrigation.

Vertical migration towards deeper layers is less evident with increasing distance from the drippers.

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