Irrigation and Fertilization: A Comprehensive Analysis of Their Influences on Qualitative Indices in Two Plum Varieties

Abstract

The chief aim of this study is to provide information regarding the value and effectiveness of localized irrigation applied to plum trees grown in nurseries; this study also emphasizes how irrigation impacts various qualitative indices in the context of different fertilization treatments. By increasing production in the nursery, the application of differentiated rules for fertilization and irrigation is expected to yield vigorous, healthy fruit tree planting material. As in the case of all cultivated plants, fruit trees in nurseries are primarily dependent on soil and climatic conditions. This research was carried out in a private fruit tree nursery in the northwestern part of Romania. The soil taxonomic unit identified on the research field was arable, weakly glaciated loamy clay on fluvial deposits. The two plum cultivars that were studied were Stanley and Cacanska Lepotica, both of which are valued for the high caliber of their fruit. This research was conducted using a 4 × 2 × 4 trifactorial experiment, with irrigation acting as the primary factor, cultivar as the secondary factor, and fertilization as the tertiary factor. During this research, the fertilization treatments proved to have the most significant impact (34.50%) on stem diameter compared with irrigation (20.67%) and cultivar (5.63%), given that the cultivar had no discernible influence on the increase in the diameters of the grafted trees.