Nutrient management and balanced fertilization in Shaanxi province

Experiments in 2011 focused on water and nutrient interaction in apple and NPK application ratio in kiwi in Shaanxi Province. The nutrient and water interaction research was conducted in a 9-year-old Fuji apple orchard (1,667 trees/ha) at Fengxiang County and a 5-year-old Fuji apple orchard (1,667 trees/ha) at Pucheng County.

At the nutrient recommendation of 0.6-0.24-0.3 kg N-P₂O₅-K₂O/tree, drip fertigation at four growing stages (viz., 20% at basal, 30% at bud emergence in the spring, 50% at fruit expending [30% on Jun 10, 20% on July 20]) produced 14% and 8% more fruit yield in Fengxiang and Pucheng counties, respectively than the same amount of nutrients applied in soil at four stages, but with flood irrigation. Half of the recommended nutrients plus the drip fertigation produced similar or more fruit yield to the fully recommended nutrients applied with flood irrigation. Economic analysis indicated that fertigation resulted in USD 7,089/ha more income in Fengxiang County and USD 2,160/ha more income in Pucheng county than flood irrigation practice.

Research on NPK ratio in Kiwi in Yangling City determined 0.23-0.12-0.12 kg N-P₂O₅-K₂O/tree (2,000 trees/ha) to be the optimal fertilization dose. This dose produced 47.7 t/ha of kiwi fruit—12, 12, and 26% more than the 1/2N, 1/2P, and 1/2K treatments, respectively. These yield gaps produced more value for the optimal dose by USD 3,861, 4,019, and 7,604/ha, respectively. Evaluation of an additional treatment supplying 50% more NPK resulted in similar yield to NPK. The NPK recommendation plus 8 kg farmyard manure generated 3% more yield over NPK alone, and increase profits by USD 1,007/ha. Shaanxi-NMBF