Influence of Foliar Spraying with Macro and Microelements on the Growth and Productivity of Olive Trees in Idleb Province

Abstract

In this research, the effect of foliar spraying, with macro and microelements on the productivity of Sourani olive variety, was studied in Arab-Said village (which is 5 km west of Idleb), during the years 2012-2013. A randomized block design was used, and 4 treatments were performed, each of which contained 5 replicates, each replicate was one olive tree. During the experiment, foliar spraying was applied with a mix of macro and microelements, so that the treatments differed between them by the number of sprayings (0, 1, 2, and 3) and their dates (before flowering, one week after flowering, and two weeks after the second spraying). The results showed that all foliar spraying treatments outperformed the control, with a significant increase, in most of the indicators and parameters studied: the leaf surface (2.41 cm2), the number of flowering cluster/branch (13.32), the number of flowers/flowering clusters (8.88), the number of flowers/branch (359.2), the percentage of fruit-set (0.61%), the number of fruits/branch (24.41), the fruit weight (0.98 g), the fruit size (0.49 mL), and pulp/fruit ratio (3.43%). Where spraying once before flowering had the most significant increase compared to other spraying treatments. While the increase in the number of spraying times did not have any significant effect on the previous indicators, it led to a significant increase in the vegetative growth index (6.75cm), in the productivity/tree (39.42 kg), and in the percentage of oil (5.28%), compared to the control. Finally, the results showed that production varied greatly between the two years of the study (the phenomenon of alternatebearing), but that all experimental treatments reduced this difference comparing to the control.

Sustainability of High-Density Olive Orchards: Hints for Irrigation Management and Agroecological Approaches

“…Supplemental irrigation can be defined as the application of a limited amount of water to increase and stabilize crop yields when rainfall fails to provide sufficient water for plant growth [92]. Studies concerning the effect of supplemental irrigation on olive trees' productive responses involve mostly TD and MD orchards in semi-arid conditions (e.g., [76,[93][94][95]).…”

Effect of Foliar Spray of Micronutrients and Plant Growth Regulators on Flowering, Fruit Pomology and Oil Yield

“…Although, olive tree has been designated as a drought tolerant yet, it requires sufficient soil moisture during certain stages of growth. Unfortunately, majority of olive plantations were undertaken on hill slopes, in the drought prone areas of mid hills and valley areas of the state [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Furthermore, these areas are completely devoid of irrigation facility.…”