Nutrient management and balanced fertilization in Shaanxi province

IPNI-2006-CHN-SN4

14 Jan 2013

2012 Annual Interpretive Summary

Nutrient Management and Balanced Fertilization in Apple and Kiwi in Shaanxi, 2012

Trials were conducted in 2012 in Shaanxi Province to evaluate the effect of balanced fertilization on yield and quality of kiwi and drip-irrigated apple. The first experiment was conducted in a 10-year old apple orchard in Fengxiang County, where the nutrient recommendation was 0.6 kg N, 0.24 kg P2O5 and 0.3 kg K2O/tree (1,667 trees/ha). Twenty percent of the NPK was applied basally after previous year harvest, 30% was applied when sprouts emerged in spring, and the remaining 50% was applied during the fruit expansion stage. All fertilizers were applied through drip fertigation except farmer practice (FP) where NPK rate was the same as recommendation, but applied by furrow around the tree. The recommended NPK treatment with fertigation produced 62.4 t/ha apple fruit, which was 10.4 t/ha (+20%), 4.1 t/ha (+7%), 8.4 t/ha (+16%), and 2.8 t/ha (+5%) more than the yields obtained with 1/2N, 1/2P, 1/2K, and FP treatments, respectively. Similarly, the recommended treatment gave a return of US$6,265/ha, $2,403/ha, $5,105/ha, and $1,778/ha more than the incomes obtained with 1/2N, 1/2P, 1/2K, and FP treatments, respectively.

In the study in Yangling City with kiwi fruit, the recommended NPK rate of 0.23-0.12-0.12 kg N-P2O5-K2O/tree (2,000 trees/ha) produced 42 t/ha of kiwi fruit, which was 8, 10 and 32% more than the yields obtained with 1/2N, 1/2P, 1/2K treatments, respectively. Similarly, the recommended treatment gave $1,841, $2,413 and $6,238/ha more income than the 1/2N, 1/2P and 1/2K plots, respectively. The recommended NPK plus an additional application of 7.7 kg/tree farmyard manure produced 7% more yield and $1,841 more benefit over the recommended rate of NPK, indicating secondary or micronutrient deficiency which was not dealt with by NPK. The recommended rate of NPK also improved fruit quality parameters like single fruit weight, vitamin C content, total soluble sugar content, and ratio of sugar to acid. Shaanxi-NMBF