The Effect of Foliar Application of Nano-chelate Super Plus ZFM on Fruit Set and some Quantitative and Qualitative Traits of Almond Commercial Cultivars

The nutritional problems in almond orchards have increased because of alkaline soils and insufficient nutrition. This study was done to evaluate the effect of nano-chelate super plus ZFM (Zinc, Iron and Manganese) spraying on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of almond commercial cultivars. This work was carried out in factorial experiment base on randomized complete block design with three replications. A factor involved different almond cultivars (Shokufeh, Monagha and Sahand) and B factor involved the time of nano-chelate super plus ZFM (2g/l) application with four time treatments T1: bud swelling phase, T2: two weeks after bloom end and T3: Application in two stages, bud swelling phase (T1) and two weeks after bloom (T2) and T4: control (spraying with water). Different traits, such as yield per shoot, initial and final fruit set; fruit abscission, length, width and fresh and dry weight of nut and concentration of microelements in leaves were measured. The results showed that the concentration of micro elements (Zn, Fe, Cu and Mn) in leaves increased significantly in all treatments especially when spraying in two stages compared to control. Also, the interaction of time of spraying and cultivar was significant in all measured traits except fruit abscission. The highest percentages of initial and final fruit set and yield per shoot were observed in Shokufeh cultivar and fertilizer spraying in two stages (T1 and T2), and the lowest percentage of initial and final fruit set was observed in control in all tested cultivars. The simple effect of spraying time on fruit abscission was significant in 1% level and also percentage of fruit abscission decreased about 25% compared to control in application in two times (T1 and T2).