TITLE:
Morphophysiological Responses of Olive Plants of the Arbequina Cultivar in Acid Soils
AUTHORS:
Henrique Bisognin Gallina, Cristiano Geremias Hellwig, Marcelo Barbosa Malgarim, Paulo Mello-Farias
KEYWORDS:
pH, Olive Tree, Abiotic Stress, Plant Height
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.8 No.11,
October
20,
2017
ABSTRACT: The
current study aimed to investigate the morphophysiological responses with
determinations of the plant height, stem diameter, chlorophyll content, and
leaf nutrients of ‘Arbequina’ olive plant in acid soils. For evaluations of plant height, stem
diameter, chlorophyll content, the experimental design was completely
randomized arranged in split-plot design. The factor allocated to the main
plots was consisted of the time after transplant (0, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150
days after transplant—DAT) and, the factor arranged in the subplots was
composed by pH with six levels 2.9; 3.1; 3.9; 4.3; 5.0; and, 6.3 (witness). In determination of leaf nutrient content
(nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, copper, zinc,
iron, manganese, aluminium and boron) was followed the same experimental
design, however, only pH was tested. Plant height, stem diameter and
chlorophyll content (SPAD) are not prejudiced by acidic pH up to 150 DAT. For
the different pH levels tested, the nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium,
magnesium, sulfur, copper, zinc, iron, manganese and boron foliar contents are
adequate for the olive crop, except nitrogen at pH 2.9. The ‘Arbequina’ olive plants adequately
support acidic soils even with accentuated additions in the foliar aluminium
content.