Author(s):

JA Rather, FA Misgar, A Kumar and JA Baba

Abstract: To investigate the influence of leaf nutrient concentrations among different exotic cultivars on various rootstocks for two consecutive years. The other goal of the experiment was to precise the time of leaf sampling in four apple cultivars. Among rootstocks MM106 had the highest level of nutrient concentrations whereas M9 had the lowest. The exotic cultivars like Mollies Delicious and Vista Bella recorded highest leaf calcium and zinc content and minimum was observed in Cooper IV and Mollies Delicious indicating a definite effect of rootstocks on translocation of nutrients within the plant system. The seasonal variation of leaf calcium content on both rootstocks showed an increasing trend from 15th of May to 30th of July and leaf zinc content showed an increasing trend from 15th of May to 15th of July thereafter, it decreased slowly upto the end of vegetation season. The seasonal variation of nutrients in leaves indicate stability period of various nutrients like Ca and Zn in early maturing cultivars like Vista Bella and Mollies Delicious from 15th of June to 15th of July, while as in mid-season cultivars Starkrimson and Cooper IV the stability in nutrient concentration was recorded from 30th June to 30th of July indicating the appropriate leaf sampling period for these exotic cultivars as against the sampling time of existing cultivars which is from mid-July to mid-August under similar conditions fig.1. Various fruit chemical quality parameters like TSS and total sugar significantly effected by rootstocks MM106 recorded maximum TSS (14.53, 13.96 oB) and total sugar (11.44,11.99%) as compared with the lowest value (13.52, 13.19 oB) and (11.25 and 11.79%) observed in M9 rootstock. Correlation studies were made in order to determine the relationship among leaf nutrients with chemical quality parameters. Significant and positive correlation was obtained between leaf nutrient content, TSS and total sugar. Though there was a significant correlation between different leaf nutrient contents and various chemical quality parameters these correlations were not strong enough with other quality parameters in respect of some nutrients.

Pages: 3407-3410  |  1095 Views  288 Downloads

Download (591KB)