Response of Apple Trees (cv. Ibrahimi) to the Time of Foliar Application with Zinc and Boron

Abstract

The study was conducted in one of the private orchards in the Saqlawiya area - Fallujah during the 2020 growing season. The foliar spray was used to study the effect of the timing of foliar spraying (three sprays, the first at the beginning of flowering, second at the stage of full flowers blooming, and the third at the stage of petal fall), Presented with symbols (D1, D2 and D3), respectively. The second factor consisted of spraying with boron and zinc with the following concentrations (0,1, and 3 gm. L-1), mentioned as (S0, S1, S2, S3), respectively. these elements were used singly or in the form of a mixture with the same concentrations. This study aims to study the effect of the two factors on the growth and setting of apple trees, cv. Ibrahimi. Therefore, (36) five-year-old apple trees with homogeneous vegetative growth were selected as much as possible. The results revealed that foliar application with boron and zinc for the Ibrahimi apple trees improved the quality of the fruits and their vegetative and flowering traits. The results revealed that spraying with micronutrients at the stage of petal fall had a significant effect on flower traits and yield especially the media culture (M3) which presented the best results for the traits. The results revealed that spraying with micronutrients at the stage of petal fall had a significant effect on flower traits and yield especially the time (D3) which presented the best results for the traits (leaf area, Rate of increase in the length of the branches, Rate of increase in branch diameters, Fruits set Percentage, Percentage of fallen fruits and Percentage of remaining fruits, which reached (24.25cm2, 56.77cm, 0.42cm, 26.65%, 45.25%, 54.75%), respectively. On the other hand, spraying with micronutrients achieved significant effect, especially (S3), that gave the highest values for the traits (Rate of increase in branch diameters, Fruits set Percentage, Percentage of fallen fruits and Percentage of remaining fruits), which were (37.50 cm, 0.42%, 26.65%, and 46.71 gm L-1).