Nutritional, Yield, and Quality Responses of Apple, Pear, and Cherry to Calcium Nitrate Application

A two-year field experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of calcium nitrate (CN) application on the nutrients concentration and yield of Golab apple, Granny Smith apple, Beirut pear and Takdaneh cherry. A completely randomized design experiment was conducted with three factors including: trees (Golab Apple, Granny Smith Apple, Pear cultivar: Beirut and Cherry cultivar: Takdaneh), CN fertilizer treatments (T-0: nil, T-1: soil application, T-2: soil test results application, and T-3: soil and foliar application) and Year (First year and Second year) with four replications. Studied parameters included; the concentration of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg), nutrient ratios, and fruits yield. The results of two-year experiments indicated that CN application significantly increased fruits Ca concentration. Regarding to results belonged to the second year, the highest Ca and Mg concentration was related to Granny Smith apple, while the highest N concentration was observed in cherry. Also results demonstrated that for all fruits the highest ratios of N/Ca and Ca/Mg was obtained in first and second years, respectively. CN fertilization through the second year, reduced N accumulation in all fruits and balanced the N/Ca ratio. The lowest ratio of N/Ca was observed in T-2 and T-3. In accordance with the results of the present study, it was found that soil application of CN increased fruits Ca concentration and Ca/Mg ratio and reduced the N/Ca ratio. Generally, increase in Ca uptake improved fruits quality of orchard products.