Effect of Postharvest Soil and Foliar Application of Boron Fertilizer on the Partitioning of Boron in Apple Trees

Abstract

This study was carried out on mature 'Delicious' apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh.) on EM 9 rootstock. Labeled B (99.63 Atom % 10 B) was applied as boric acid. Treatments were postharvest foliar B at 375 mg·L -1 , postharvest foliar B (375 mg·L -1 ) plus urea (2.5% wt/vol), and a soil application at the same per-tree rate as the foliar treatments (16 g boric acid/tree). Postharvest foliar B applied with or without urea was effi ciently transported from the leaves into storage tissues for the next year´s growth. However, soil-applied B remained mostly in the roots while very little was translocated to the above-ground portions of the tree at full bloom. When urea was added to a foliar B spray, the amount of B in the roots and fl ower clusters increased at full bloom. Although increasing the effi ciency of foliar B applications may not be necessary, combining urea and B into a single application is recommended when growers want to apply both N and B. Shoot leaves from all treatments collected late in the season (midsummer) had similar B concentrations, even though treatments altered the amount of added B that was present in different tree tissues early in the season.

Effect of foliar application with sodium selenate on selenium biofortification and fruit quality maintenance of ‘Starking Delicious’ apple during storage

“…Fortification of some fruits based on their rates of consumption and availability all year round appears to be an effective way for Se supplementation in human diets. Although not all fruit trees have the same performance in uptaking nutrients from leaves, apples seem to benefit more because of their higher capabilities in foliar absorption compared to other species . Thus, it seems that apple, as an important fruit, ranking third in consumption after citrus and banana in the world, can be considered as an appropriate candidate for Se supplementation to human diets.…”

“…Although not all fruit trees have the same performance in uptaking nutrients from leaves, 22 apples seem to benefit more because of their higher capabilities in foliar absorption compared to other species. 23 Thus, it seems that apple, as an important fruit, ranking third in consumption after citrus and banana in the world, 24 can be considered as an appropriate candidate for Se supplementation to human diets. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of augmenting the Se content in apple fruit by foliar application with sodium selenate and to evaluate the effects of Se application on Se content and the fruit growth, quality attributes, ripening, and senescence.…”

Importance of boron in fruit nutrition

“…Therefore, small soil applications easily provide adequate B to trees. However, commercial broadcast guidelines for soil B application must deal with the difficulty of equally distributing small amounts of fertilizer (Sánchez and Righetti, 2005). Wojcik (2006) pointed out that high yield of tart cherry can be obtained on soils with water-soluble B concentrations as low as 0.32 mg kg -1 .…”

“…Although the soil application is the most spread and accepted in boron maintenance, some authors pointed out that soil-applied B remained mostly in the roots while very little was translocated to the above-ground portions of the tree at full bloom (Sánchez and Righetti 2005;Wojcik et al, 2008).…”

Fruit Set, Productivity and Fruit Quality of Barahi Date Palm As Influenced by Foliar Application with Sugar and Boron under Coverage and Non-Coverage Conditions

“…If boron is not present in a sufficient amount, the flowers will die before the full bloom period. Consequently, the pear fruit is set, and the yield will be reduced (Sánchez and Righetti 2005). A spray application of B to the leaves is more effective and economical in comparison with a soil application (Perica et al, 2002;Wojcik and Wojcik, 2003;Hudina and Stampar, 2005;Yehia and Hassan, 2005).…”