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Effect of Fertilization with Increasing Doses of Ammonium Nitrate on Growth, Yield, and Concentration of N, P, and K in Leaves of Olive Trees (Olea Europea L.) c.v. “Kalinioti”
Kotsias, D.; Kavvadias, V.; Pappas, C. Response of Olive Trees (Olea europaea L.) cv. Kalinioti to Nitrogen Fertilizer Application. Physiologia2024, 4, 43-53.
Kotsias, D.; Kavvadias, V.; Pappas, C. Response of Olive Trees (Olea europaea L.) cv. Kalinioti to Nitrogen Fertilizer Application. Physiologia 2024, 4, 43-53.
Kotsias, D.; Kavvadias, V.; Pappas, C. Response of Olive Trees (Olea europaea L.) cv. Kalinioti to Nitrogen Fertilizer Application. Physiologia2024, 4, 43-53.
Kotsias, D.; Kavvadias, V.; Pappas, C. Response of Olive Trees (Olea europaea L.) cv. Kalinioti to Nitrogen Fertilizer Application. Physiologia 2024, 4, 43-53.
Abstract
Nitrogen is the most commonly managed mineral nutrient in olive groves because it is essential for plant growth. The precise management of N fertilization in olive cultivation is still not fully clarified, but it is now essential for providing sustainable production. A nitrogen fertilizer ex-periment with olive trees (cv. Kalinioti) was carried out over a six-year period. Seven levels of nitrogen fertilizer given as ammonium nitrate (control, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 kg/tree) were annually applied in order to determine the effect of nitrogen on vegetative growth, fruit set, fruit weight, yield, maturation index and leaf N,P, and K concentrations. The results indicate that, under these conditions, application of up to 4 kg NH4NO3/tree significantly increased yield to 62.5 kg/tree compared to the control. The positive effect was attributed to the initial and final fruit set increases (7.63 and 3.73%, respectively). However, the weight of 100 olives (337 g) at the same fertilizer rate was considerably lower compared to the control. Higher nitrogen rates decreased yield while increasing overall shoot growth. Nitrogen fertilization did not significantly influence the oil content of olive fruit. Fruit weight, maturation index and concentration of oil reached maximum levels in the beginning of December, indicating a suitable start to olive harvesting with reduced yield losses due to unfavorable weather conditions. With increasing fertilizer levels from 0 to 6 kg NH4NO3,/tree concentration of N in olive leaves also increased from 1.23% to 2.38%. Maximum yield was achieved at a level of 6 kg NH4NO3/tree, which corresponded to 2.01% N in leaves. The results suggest that application of 3 kg NH4NO3/tree can be recommended for table olive pro-duction due to the fact that fruit weight was not decreased, while fertilization with 4 kg NH4NO3/tree was suitable for oil olives.
Keywords
Olive trees; Nitrogen fertilization; yield; leaf concentration; fruit set
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Agricultural Science and Agronomy
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
