Blackcurrant Variety Specific Growth and Yield Formation as a Response to Foliar Fertilizers

Sorin Vâtcă,Valentina Ancuța Stoian,Vlad Stoian,Melinda Horvat,Ștefania Gâdea,Roxana Vidican,Anamaria Vâtcă

doi:10.3390/agronomy10122014

Abstract

Recently, there has been a growing interest in supplementing plant nutrition with foliar fertilizers. Foliar application of nutrients is considered a promising environmentally friendly strategy for improving the yield and nutrient efficiency of crops. Little work with foliar appliances on perennial fruits bushes, blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum L.), respectively, has been reported. This study was conducted to evaluate the growth and yield response of three blackcurrant varieties to macro and micronutrients’ foliar fertilizer solutions. Principal component analysis and factors environmental fitting were performed for the global assessment of growth and increases in branches length responsible for yield production throughout the entire vegetation period and reported to the final development. The results endorsed the benefits of foliar fertilization. Each variety has a preference for a specific foliar treatment. The highest increases in branches length for Ruben variety was with Ascovigor foliar fertilizer; for Tiben with Kombimax; for Tines with Mikromix. The varieties growth dynamics due to fertilizers was best fitted to foliar Kombimax. Stable models were found to all blackcurrant varieties depending on developmental stage and foliar fertilization application. Application of foliar fertilizer is very profitable in terms of pairing each variety with optimum product, which will increase its specific yield potential.

Highlights

The highest increases in branches length for Ruben variety was with Ascovigor foliar fertilizer; for Tiben with Kombimax; for Tines with Mikromix
The growing consumers interest trend in Ribes nigrum L. is largely due to the variety of bioactive compounds potentially beneficial to health, such as high content of ascorbic acid, antioxidants [1,2,3,4] and fatty acids [5,6]
Tines (TI) is a fairly productive, early ripening variety, with medium to large fruits, which possess an amount of extract and medium levels of ascorbic acid and anthocyanins

Summary

Introduction

The growing consumers interest trend in Ribes nigrum L. is largely due to the variety of bioactive compounds potentially beneficial to health, such as high content of ascorbic acid (vitamin C), antioxidants [1,2,3,4] and fatty acids [5,6]. The bioactive compounds are found in fruit and in leaves and buds. This requires a constant balancing between berry production and vegetative growth [7]. For high and qualitative yields, new branches are needed, vegetative growth and yield formation both compete for the same resources [7,8,9]. The main aim in blackcurrant cultivation is to obtain rapidly and subsequently high yields [7].

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion