Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 21 ISSUE 3
Written by Florin SALA
The present study evaluated the variation of some physiological indices and biometric parameters of the fruits under the influence of foliar fertilization in apple. The plantation was of semi-intensive type, in non-irrigated conditions; the 'Florina' apple cultivar was studied. The products Biocomplex 900, Foliarel, Megafol, Uvafol, Waterfert and calcium chloride were used. The combination of fertilizer resources resulted in 8 experimental variants (V2 - V9), tested compared to a control variant (V1). Physiological indices (leaf area - LA, chlorophyll - Chl) and biometric parameters (fruit diameter - FD, fruit weight - FW) were evaluated. LA values ranged from 28.24 cm2 (V1) to 34.37 cm2 (V5). Chlorophyll content varied between 28.24 SPAD units (V1) and 49.99 SPAD units (V9). Fruits diameter (FD) varied between 52.48 mm (V1) and 64.15 mm (V9). Fruit weight (FW) recorded values between 96.10 g (V1) and 117.32 g (V9). The regression analysis led to equations that described the variation of FD and FW in relation to LA and Chl, in statistical safety conditions (p <0.001). 3D and isoquant graphs models described the distribution of FD and FW values in relation to LA and Chl. Within PCA, PC1 explained 93.304% of variance, and PC2 explained 5.6066% of variance. The cluster analysis led to the dendrogram, in statistical safety conditions, Coph.corr = 0.788. The highest level of similarity was recorded between variants V5 and V8 (SDI = 0.7787), followed by variants V7 and V8 (SDI = 1.6693), respectively by V7 and V9 (SDI = 1.8845).
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