ISHS Acta Horticulturae 984: VII International Symposium on Mineral Nutrition of Fruit Crops
EFFECTS OF POTASSIUM FOLIAR FERTILIZATION ON DIFFERENT FRUIT TREE CROPS OVER FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIMENTS |
| Authors: | M. Ben Mimoun, M. Marchand |
| Keywords: | fertigation, soil application, soluble solid content, leaf K content |
| DOI: | 10.17660/ActaHortic.2013.984.23 |
| Abstract:
Potassium (K) is an essential mineral nutrient for the fruit growth and quality. Foliar spray is starting to be used by fruit growers in addition to soil application or fertigation. Different experiments were conducted over a period of 5 years on six fruit tree species, i.e., apple, pear, peach, olive, citrus and plum, in order to evaluate the effects of K foliar applications on the fruit growth, yield, quality and mineral status. Potassium as potassium sulfate was applied by foliar sprays several times according to the various critical growth stages of the fruits. Other treatments using fertigation or soil application were also included depending on the experimental designs. The results showed different effects of foliar spray over the years. For fruit yield, the effect of K was significant only after 5 years of application for olive tree, but no effect was detected in peach and plum, whereas the improved yield was detected only after one year for citrus, apple and pear. Fruit quality was improved in most of the experiments, showing an increase in fruit weight and a higher soluble solid content. | |
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