The influence of Zn, Fe and B applications on leaf and fruit absorption of table olive “Gemlik” based on phonological stages
Introduction
The olive tree (Olea europea L.) is an important crop in Turkey. Over the past decades, because of gastronomic and health-related benefits (Waterman and Lockwood, 2007), increased demand for olive oil and table olive has led to the growth of the cultivated area of olive in the country where, currently, around 500,000 families (2–2.5 million people) earn livelihood from olive cultivation. Turkey exports olive oil to more than 90 countries (IOC, 2015). There are approximately 141 million fruit bearing olive trees composed of 103.57 million oil tree and 55.7 million table tree cultivars producing 170,000 metric tons of olive oil and 438,000 metric tons of table olives in 2014 (Tuik, 2015). ‘Çelebi’, ‘Domat’, ‘İzmir sofralık’, ‘Memeli’, ‘Uslu’ and ‘Çilli’ are the main table varieties; ‘Ayvalık’, ‘Memecik’ and ‘Erkence’ are the main oil cultivars; and ‘Çekişte’ and ‘Gemlik’ are considered to be good dual-purpose varieties in the country (IOC, 2015).
Zinc (Zn) deficiency is a widespread problem in a majority of table and oil olives cultivars as reported by other studies in the country (Genç et al., 1991Seferoğlu and Hakerlerler, 2000Doran et al., 2008, Turan et al., 2013). Through analysis of 1511 soil samples collected from different parts of the country, it was found that about 50% of the arable soils or 14 million hectares of cropped lands are Zn deficient (Eyüpoğlu et al., 1994). The soil’s Zn deficiency is caused by low availability to plant roots rather than its low content in the soils. High soil pH and CaCO3 levels, low organic matter and moisture content are assumed to be the main factors affecting low availability of Zn to plant roots (Marschner, 1993).
Mineral nutrients play a fundamental role in the biochemical and physiological functions of biological systems. While higher plants obtain their mineral nutrients primarily from the soil, animals and humans depend mostly on higher plants to supply them with mineral nutrients (Grusak and Çakmak, 2005). Currently, mineral malnutrition is considered to be among the most serious global challenges for humans (Anon., 2004). It is believed that Zn deficiency is the most widespread micronutrient deficiency in crop plants and human beings (Alloway, 2004, Hotz and Brown, 2004). Zinc deficiency in humans causes a wide range of health complications, including impairment of the immune system, learning ability and physical growth and increases in mortality and infections (Hotz and Brown, 2004, Cunningham-Rundles et al., 2005). Zinc deficiency also induces DNA damage and increases the risk of cancer occurrence (Ho, 2004).
Very little is known about Zn in olive because the Zn levels tend to be adequate in olive leaves (Fernández-Escobar, 2007). However, there is little research on the role of the amount, number of applications, and timing of foliar Zn treatments in increasing olive Zn contents. Information about the dynamics of Zn accumulation concerning mobility of Zn in olives could be helpful in evaluation of determining the best time for foliar Zn application.
Multiple micronutrient deficiencies are very common in table olive grown in the southeastern Marmara region. Current research has been performed to focus on correction of Zn deficiency in olive trees. Iron (Fe) and boron (B) were applied in combinations with Zn in order to evaluate the effectiveness of single and combined applications of Zn with Fe and B. Therefore, this study was established with the intent to overcome other widespread multiple micronutrient deficiencies in combination with Zn. The objectives of this study were to (1) assess the comparative suitability of soil versus foliar Zn applications considering dose and application frequencies, (2) evaluate Zn applications combined with the other micro nutrients in overcoming multiple micro nutrient deficiencies, and (3) determine the response of residual Zn effect of soil applied Zn in following year.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
The southeastern Marmara region is situated in northwest Turkey. The experiments were conducted in four individual commercial groves including İznik (1), Nilüfer (1) and Mudanya (2) towns in Bursa province (Fig. 1). The geographical locations of the experimental sites are presented in Table 1. The great soil groups of the study areas were evaluated according to a soil map of the province (Anon., 1995) and are also presented in Table 1. The experimental groves were established with “Gemlik”
Experiment I
Effects of soil and foliar applied Zn on Zn concentrations in the leaves and the fruits
Zinc concentrations in the leaf and fruit samples of soil and foliar single ZnS applied trees were presented in Fig. 2. No data of fruit Zn contents in the second year is shown in Fig. 2 due to olive trees of the experimental grove not bearing fruit. Soil applied Zn increased leaf Zn contents in either years of the experiment and fruit Zn contents in the first year. But, these increases were not statistically
Conclusion
The results of all 4 experiments showed that every treatment of Zn foliar application increased leaf and fruit Zn contents. Effects of the treatments on the leaf Zn contents were more evident than the fruit Zn contents. Additionally, an intensive foliar treatment of Zn at the rate of 1% with 4 applications increased fruit Zn contents more than the other treatments. The importance of this treatment is to insure that olive trees are supplied with sufficient Zn especially in the newly developing
Funding
This work is a part of the research project which was supported by the Research Fund of the University of Uludağ Project number: Z-2008/14 awarded to Haluk Başar as principal investigator.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Dr. Larry Cihacek from North Dakota State University for English editing of the manuscript and Marmarabirlik (the cooperative of olive producer farmers in the region) for support of transportation.
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