Improved Crop Quality by Nutrient Management

Abstract

The use of leaf and soil analysis is a valuable tool for monitoring plant nutritional needs and planning the fertilisation of strawberries to improve yield and quality, to maintain soil fertility and to reduce environmental pollution. With this aim a survey of leaf mineral composition, soil characteristics and fruit quality was carried on commercial fields in the Basilicata region. Results showed that the availability of plant nutrients was strongly influenced by soil texture, organic matter and pH indicating that fertiliser made recommendations should be on the basis of the soil characteristics. Leaf nutrient content was influenced more by sampling date (most of the elements increased their concentration from winter to spring) than by strawberry variety. With the exception of manganese, a poor correlation was found between fruit quality and leaf mineral composition in the spring. Fruit quality parameters were within appropriate standards in most cases, but acid and sugar concentrations were inversely correlated to the content of nitrogen in the fruits, indicating that a proper control of N fertilisers could be effective in improving fruit quality.