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Troyanos & Roukounaki
18
The young olive trees responded to N
when the N fertilization rate was >0.95 g N/
pot and soil [NO
3
-N]was≤25mg/kgDWT. The
young olive trees could resist high soil [NO
3
-
N] without growth reduction. For example,
there was no reduction in leaf growth of the
experimental trees when the soil N fertiliza-
tion rate was increased from 1.90 (N
2
) to 6.25
(N
4
) g/pot (Fig. 2) causing an increase in soil
[NO
3
-N] from 50 to 300 mg/kg DWT (Fig. 6).
However, in high soil N fertilization rates,
i.e. N
3
and N
4,
the leaf+stem+shoot DWT:
root length ratio was low indicating that
the plants had a shorter root length, which
is undesirable for olive trees grown under
rain-fed conditions. The foliar application of
N-P-K produced the lowest olive leaf DWT
(Fig. 2). However, the reduced growth could
not be attributed only to N but also to P and
K, since in the present study, none of these
two nutrients was applied to soil.
Literature Cited
Burns, I.G. 1992. Influence of plant nutrient con-
1.
centration on growth rate: Use of interruption
technique to determine the critical concentra-
tions of N, P and K in young plants.
Plant and
Soil,
142: 221-223.
Cimato, A., Sani, G., Marzi, L. and Marranci, M.
2.
1994. Olive crop efficiency and quality: Effects
of foliar fertilization with urea.
Olivae,
54: 48-
54.
Fernandez-Escobar, R., Benlloch, M., Herrera, E.
3.
and Garcia-Novalo, J.M. 2003. Effects of tradi-
tional and slow–release N fertilizers on growth
of olive nursery plants and N losses by leaching.
Scientia Horticulturae,
101: 39-49.
Fernandez-Escobar, R., Moreno, R. and Garcia-
4.
Creus, M. 1999. Seasonal changes of mineral nu-
trients in olive leaves during the alternate-bear-
ing cycle.
Scientia Horticulturae,
82: 25-45.
Fernandez-Escobar, R. and Marin, L. 1999. Nitro-
5.
gen fertilization in olive orchards. In
Proceed-
ings of the 3
nd
International Symposium on Olive
Growing
. Chania, Crete, Greece. 22-26 Septem-
ber 1999 (
Acta Holticulturae
, 474: 333-335).
Fernandez-Escobar, R., Parra, M.A., Navarro,
6.
C. and Arquero, O. 2009. Foliar diagnosis as a
guide to olive fertilization.
Spanish Journal of
Agricultural Research,
7: 212-223.
Fernández-Escobar, R. 1999.
7.
Fertilización
. In Bar-
ranco, D., Fernández-Escobar, R., Rallo, L. (eds.).
El cultivo del olivo
. Mundi-Prensa, Madrid, pp.
247–265.
Freihat, N.M. and Masa’deh, Y.K. 2006. Response
8.
of two-year-old trees of four olive cultivars to
fertilization.
American-Eurasian Journal of Agri-
culture & Environmental Science
, 1 : 185 – 190.
Gargouri, K. and Mihri, A. 2003. Relationship be-
9.
tween soil fertility and phosphorus and potas-
sium nutrition of the olive in Tunisia.
Options
Méditerranéennes Series A,
50: 199-204.
Gonzalez, F., Garcia, A.M., Chaves, M., and Ma-
10.
zuelos, C. 1967. Estado de nutrition, equibrio
nutritivo y rendimiento en el olivar de la pro-
vincial de Sevilla. Estudio sobre variedades de
aceite.
Anales de Edafologia y Agrobiologia
, 26:
733–762.
Gonzalez, F., Garcia, A.M., Chaves, M., and Ma-
11.
zuelos, C., 1970. Estado de nutrition, equibrio
nutritivo y rendimiento en el olivar de la provin-
cial de Sevilla. Estudio sobre la variedad ‘Gor-
dal’ de mesa.
Anales de Edofologia y Agrobiolo-
Table 2.
Relationship between the mean
leaf dry weight (DWT) (g) and the mean soil
concentration of NO
3
-N
(mg/kg DWT) dur-
ing the course of the experiment.
Leaf DWT = a+b*r
[NO
3
-N]
+c
[NO
3
-N]
Estimated coefficients
SE
a
0.821
0.071
b
-22.180
3.76
r
-0.008
0.013
c
23.410
1.85
R = 71.7 %, P<0.001
Leaf DWT (g)
Soil (NO
3
-N) (mg/kg DWT)
Figure 7.
Relationship between the mean leaf dry weight
(DWT) (g) of one-year olive trees and the mean soil concen-
tration of NO
3
-N
(mg/kg DWT) during the course of the exper-
iment.
