Document Type : Research articles.
Authors
1
Horticulture Res. Inst., Agric. Res. Center, Giza, Egypt.
2
Soils, Water and Environmental Res. Inst., Agric. Res. Center, Egypt.
Abstract
Two field trials were carried out on sandy soils cultivated with
pears (cv. Le-conte) and apricots (cv. Canino) during two successive
seasons of 2003-2004 to study the effect of applying liquid organic
fertilizer contain a minimum of 2.9% humic acid, added as foliar spray
on leaves (Sp), mixed with soil around the trees (So) and a combined
treatment of spray on leaves + mixed with soil (Sp+So), in addition to
a control treatment. These applied treatments were repeated three
times, i.e., at beginning of growth, June and August.
Data obtained indicated that the treatment of (So+Sp) gave the
highest values of vegetative growth parameters of pears and apricots
(length of current shoots, No. of current shoots, No, of leaves on the
current shoots, No. of nodes on the current shoots and leaf area) as
compared with the other treatments. On the other hand, the effect of
the applied treatments on apricot fruit characteristics was insignificant
for all treatments, except of the fruit weight at the treatment of (Sp),
which gave a significant increase as compared to the other ones.
Data revealed also that the available contents of NO3-N, P, K,
Fe, Mn, and Zn in soil were higher as a result of applying the
treatment of (Sp+So), followed by (So) and (Sp) techniques. Available
contents of NO3-N and P were relatively higher after two weeks from
application at the second time of June. Whereas, the relatively higher
available of Fe, Mn and Zn were obtained at third time of August.
The positive effect of the superior treatment of (Sp+So) was
extended to the grown trees, however, the results showed relatively
higher contents of N, P, K, Fe, Mn and Zn concentrations in leaf
tissues, followed by (So) and (Sp) treatments. Thus, the beneficial
effects of the applied treatments could be arranged as follows:
(Sp+So) > So > Sp > control. It is noteworthy to mention that at the
second time of June, all the studied macro and micronutrients of N, P,
K, Fe, Mn and Zn showed the highest concentrations in leaf tissues as
compared with the third time of August.
Keywords
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