Macronutrients fertilization in apple: production and foliar content of micronutrient

Abstract

The apple is grown in 23 states of the Mexican Republic in an area of 61,292 ha with a production potential of 630 thousand 500 tons, the major apple production entities in order of importance: Chihuahua 73.3%, 10.2% Durango, Coahuila 5.9 Puebla% and 4.4% (SAGARPA, 2011). To meet the needs of the plant and to prevent environmental pollution, the use of fertilization requires the demand of the plant is understood that input methods are efficient. The objective was to obtain the response surface for macronutrients production and optimum content of micronutrients. The study was conducted in apple trees 'Golden Delicious' / MM111 planted in 1990, we used a Taguchi L25 structure, with five factors (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) and four levels for each factor with 5 repetitions, distributed in six applications from pre-to pre-harvest sprouting. Leaf content was determined Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu and Ni, and production. He succeeded in obtaining an estimated average production of 52 t ha-1 with 73N-49P-20K-138Ca-18mg. The macronutrients that require a dose increase to locate micronutrients in sufficient range are N, K and Mg, while P and Ca should decrease the order in which they must attend micronutrients are Cu, Mn, Zn, Fe and Ni, respectively. Neither was the only micronutrient that showed trends in your answer in terms of the levels of macronutrients used.