Ripening season affects tissue mineral concentration and nutrient partitioning in peach trees

Abstract

The objective of this research was to determine the influence of ripening season on nutrient concentration and nutrient partitioning of peach trees (Prunus persica L. Batsch). We selected peach trees from three different ripening seasons and measured: (1) the concentration of macronutrients in pruned wood, thinned fruitlets, harvested fruit, and leaves fallen in autumn and (2) the total amount of macronutrients at each of these removal events. Our results showed that early‐season cultivars had more K in pruned wood, more P and K in fallen leaves, and more N, P, K, and Mg in mature fruits than mid‐ and late‐season cultivars. Also, early‐season cultivars removed more dry weight from pruned wood and fallen leaves but less from fruit than mid‐ and late‐season cultivars. These results suggest that different ripening season can affect peach tree nutrient concentration and nutrient partitioning and, consequently, peach cultivars harvested at different times of the year may benefit from specific fertilization programs rather than uniform, calendar‐based fertilization programs.

Nitrogen Partitioning in Young “Julyprince” Peach Trees Grown with Different Irrigation and Fertilization Practices in the Southeastern United States

“…Therefore, the values of N concentration reported in this study likely overestimated the real N concentration of defoliated leaves. Zhou and Melgar [13] reported values of N concentration in peaches around 1.5% after leaves have senesced. In October 2016, to estimate the N removed via fall defoliation, one significant scaffold (permanent large branches coming from the trunk) of each of the 64 trees was selected and the total number of leaves in the scaffold was counted.…”

“…Furthermore, severe post-harvest RDI reduced fruit yield. Zhou and Melgar [13] investigated how different peach ripening seasons (early, mid, and late) affected nutrient partitioning. They found that mature fruit from early-season cultivars have higher N concentration in comparison with mid-and late-season cultivars.…”

“…This basal fertilizer application was able to maintain tree growth and development. One of the reasons for this maintenance capacity is the recycling of nutrients in the orchard [13]. Most of the plant removal events (pruning, fruit thinning, and defoliation) do not remove the nutrients from the orchard.…”

“…Therefore, the only plant removal event that actually removes material and nutrients from the orchard is harvesting. Zhou and Melgar [13] estimated that N removal from harvesting was 19.0, 20.8, and 27.4 kg•ha −1 for the early, mid-, and late cultivars of peaches grown in South Carolina, respectively. Tagliavini et al [15] reported that N removal in fruit from mature peach trees in Italy ranges from 12 to 36 kg•ha −1 .…”

Sugar Metabolism in Stone Fruit: Source-Sink Relationships and Environmental and Agronomical Effects

“…One of the main reasons is related to the shorter period of competition between leaves and fruits in earlier ripening cultivars. In fact, during the postharvest phase, trees are allowed to store nutrients in the permanent structures to sustain the first stages of growth in the following season (Zhou and Melgar, 2019).…”