EFFECT OF FOLIAR APPLICATION OF POTASSIUM AND CALCIUM ON VEGETATIVE GROWTH, YIELD AND FRUIT QUALITY OF "ROYAL" APRICOT TREES
RAAD AHMED MEDAN *
College of Agriculture, University of Kirkuk, Iraq.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The study was conducted during 2018, 'Royal' Apricot trees, 5 years old, have been used, plants budded on 'Seedy' apricot rootstock, grown in a private orchard, at Dakok in Kirkuk Governorate of Iraq. Twenty-seven uniform trees, were selected for this study and all of them were subjected to the same the field practices. The experiment study the K and Ca foliar application on growth fruit characters and yield, the results indicated that foliar application with K treatments achieved the highest value in shoot length, leaf area and leaf chlorophyll contents. As for the overlap between K and Ca chelated treatments, data showed that treatment (K 4000 mg/L + Ca chelated 1000 mg/L) gave the highest results compared with other combinations and control. Also, 4000 mg/L K and 1000 mg/L Ca chelated and their interactive were significantly achieved the higher results in all parameters.
Keywords: Potassium, calcium, royal cultivar, Prunus armeniaca L., chelated nutrients