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The importance of olives to human health and nutrition is gradually increasing every passing year. Olive is a cultivated perennial plant, produced as table olives and olive oil, which are of economic importance in the Mediterranean countries-the most widespread olive-growing area-and Asian, American, and North African countries. In Turkey, olive growing is mostly carried out in the Aegean region followed by the Marmara and the Mediterranean regions. Thanks to the recently established olive groves, the importance of olive growing has increased. Although olive trees are more resistant to unfavorable conditions than other fruits, some problems such as a decrease in the yield and quality of the product may appear if there is a nutrition deficiency. Conditions for olive growing should be improved to provide the olive trees with better nutrition. To realize this aim, by determining nutritional status of sampling provinces with soil and leaf analysis recommendations about more accurate fertilization techniques will be provided. In this study, the amounts of microelements in the soil of olive groves and the nutritional status of microelements of olive trees in the provinces of Izmir, Manisa, Aydin, Mugla, Balikesir, Canakkale, and Bursa in the West Anatolia region were examined between the years of 1997 and 2009, and the relationships between the results of soil analysis and the results of leaf analysis were evaluated. Statistically significant correlations between the amounts of microelements in the soils and the amounts of microelements in the leaves were obtained. Although the soil and leaf samples were observed to have deficiencies in iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), and boron (B), the deficiency in copper (Cu) was found in only leaf samples. According to the results of soil analysis, it was observed that 39% of the groves reveal deficiency in Zn, whereas the results of the leaf analysis revealed that 75% of them had deficiency in Mn. It is vital that these results be taken into consideration while preparing fertilization programs.

For environmental conservation, peat-based growing media are being phased-out in many countries. Peat-free alternatives need to be developed, preferably from local biomass ingredients. This paper describes the performance of peat-free substrates containing olive branch pruning materials in comparison with commercial growing media controls for olive saplings grown during April-October 2020 at the Olive Research Institute (ORI) in Turkey. The trial was conducted using a randomised plot design with 4 replications and 4 treatments: 1)(COMP) compost made of locally available plant materials with 70% olive prunings (100%, v.v -1 ; 2)(FIBRE) mixture of chipped and extruded olive prunings (50% chipped+50% extruded, v.v -1 ); 3)(SAND) a commercial mixture(sand 90%+vermiculite 10%, v.v -1 )(control); and 4)(PEAT+) a commercial mixture (peat 40% +coco coir 40% +perlite20%, v.v -1 )(control). The vegetative growth parameters and weed status (density and coverage) were recorded and root fungal diseases commonly found in Turkey were analysed. After the first six months of growth, there were statistically significant differences between the treatments (p≤0.05); COMP and PEAT+ were comparable and produced the largest plants with 100% survival rate. 98% of plants survived in SAND, and 81% in FIBRE.FIBRE, which was the only treatment with no weed growth, had about 30% reduced growth as compared to SAND, which had 90% and 78% growth compared with PEAT+ and COMP. Still, it was remarkable that it was possible to grow olive saplings in treated olive prunings. It is very promising that a peat-free growing media like COMP performed as well as the commercial growing media with 40% peat. During the extrusion of olive material, the temperature rose to ca. 120°C and during composting the COMP reached 65-70°C; temperatures at which the materials are expected to be effectively sanatised from any fungal diseases.

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Disseminations of organic fertilizer use in olive sapling nursery is very important. When the saplings are developed well at the beginning, this will be important for root development after planting to land, decreasing the future yield lowness, and even obtaining large amount of high quality olive grain and oil, therefore studies about this subject are essential. In this study, Gemlik olive (Olea europaea L. cv. Gemlik) variety saplings were grown with applications of different doses of the vermicompost that is an organic fertilizer (0, 5, 10, 20 and 40%) to production material and single dose of chemical fertilizer which is used commonly by planters (100% production material + chemical fertilizer). The micro nutrients content of the production material were analyzed. According to the results, the micro nutrients analysis of the production material used for the growth of olive saplings at the 3 rd and 6 th months was significant. Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn and B values as the average of all