Effect of Integral Control of Water and Fertilization on the Content of Mineral Nutrient in Leaves during Flower Bud Differentiation in Apple

Abstract

Apple is one of the most important fruit crops in the worldwide. Although Drip irrigation fertilization has been widely promoted and applied in agricultural developed countries such as Europe and America, but the ratio, application amount and use period of fertilizers for drip irrigation are not clear in China. Here, taking the traditional fertilization as the control, the effects of different N, P, K application rates on the nutrient elements content and growth of trees were studied under the condition of drip fertilization, in order to clarify the best period and application rate of drip fertilization during flower bud differentiation. We found that the peak of nitrogen demand in late June, and the K, Ca and Zn was related with the early stage of flower bud differentiation. Low Controlling fertilizer was beneficial to regulating branch capping. In short, nitrogen fertilizer needs to be applied before June of apple tree.