ISHS Acta Horticulturae 594: International Symposium on Foliar Nutrition of Perennial Fruit Plants
THE EFFECT OF FOLIAR VS. SOIL APPLICATION OF UREA TO OLIVE TREES |
| Authors: | M.A. Sánchez-Zamora, R. Fernández-Escobar |
| Keywords: | Olea europaea, olive nutrition, nitrogen fertilization, leaf nitrogen concentration, fruit yield, vegetative growth, groundwater pollution |
| Abstract:
Most of olive orchards growing in Spain receive excessive applications of N fertilizers (primarily soil application) without any criterion, contributing to groundwater (NO3- leaching) and atmospheric pollution. The experiment was conducted in order to study the effect of the amount and method (soil vs. soil and foliar) of urea application on leaf N concentration, yield, fruit size, tree growth, and oil content of mature olive trees (Olea europaea L.) cv. Picual. After six years of experiment, the results indicate that increasing the amount of N applied annually from 0 to 1 kg of N per tree did not result in an increase of yield, oil content or vegetative growth. However, leaf N concentration was higher when N was applied to both soil and leaves rather than only soil. Results support the hypothesis that annual applications of N fertilizer to olive orchards are not necessary in order to obtain good productivity and growth when leaf N is above the deficiency threshold. Also, N use efficiency seems to increase when urea is applied to leaves. | |
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