DEFICIENCY IN OLIVE TREES
4. BORON DEFICIENCY CURE IN OLIVE
Boron cure in B deficient olive trees is easy and inexpensive. Borates can be applied either to the soil or sprayed on to the foliage. Application to the soil must ensure uniform distribution of borates since the amount of borates required is very small.
From the other hand it is well known that the range between the concentration in soil that causes B deficiency and the one that causes B toxicity, is very narrow.
So, if the borates are not uniformly applied, it is very possible, in some areas of the field, B toxicity to be caused while other parts may left in B deficiency state.
Boron compounds, mainly used as fertilizers, are shown in Table 3.
Borates can be applied in solid or solution form alone or together with fertil-izers or pesticides with which are compatible. Foliar application is preferred in cases that no enough rainfall is expected. For this case solubor is considered the ideal material (Shorrocks, 1989) since it is very soluble in water having high solubility and it is compatible with several insecticides, fungicides or herbicides.
Table 2. Critical values of soil B extracted by different extractants for appearance B deficiency in olive (Tsadilas et al., 1994b).
Extraction procedure Critical value, µg kg–1soil
Hot water <0.33
Cold water <0.17
0.01 M HCl <0.05
0.05 M mannitol in 0.01 M CaCl2 <0.41
Hydroxylamine HCl <0.14
Table 3. Boron compound used as B fertilizers (Shorrocks, 1989).
Material % B Amount of material required (kg) for 1 kg B
Fertilizer borate 47 14.8 6.76
Fertilizer borate 48 14.9 6.71
Borax 11.3 8.85
Boric acid 17.5 5.71
Solubor 20.8 4.81
The normal concentration of solubor is 0.2–0.5% w/v. To ensure a good supply of B throughout the growing season it is usual to split the total rate into two or more applications.
However, the most practical way of B application is to apply that as borax or boric acid to the soil. The recommended rates for olive vary widely. Hansen (1945) treated B deficient olive trees in California by spraying them with borax or applying borax in the soil in rates 220 to 450 g per tree achieving to care the disorder. A rate of about 450 g per tree was considered adequate for complete care. Similar results were obtained by Demetriades et al. (1960) in some trials carried out in the island Lesvos, Greece. Shorrocks (1989) suggested a rate of 1–3 kg B/ha.
Tsadilas et al. (1994b), in order to study the problem more systematically by using apart from plant analysis also soil analysis data, carried out experiment similar to that of Demetriades et al. (1960). The experiment was established in 1991 in an area of Larissa with B deficient olive trees var. ‘Amfissa’, which is one of the best table varieties in Greece. The experimental design was latin square with 4 treat-ments: 0, 200, 350, and 500 g borax per tree, each replicated four times. Borax was incorporated in the soil (5–10 cm depth) in a band around the trunk of the trees in a distance about 30 cm away from them very early in the spring. The soil was a Typic Xerorthent, shallow (50 cm deep), with a slope 8 to 10%, sandy loamy, acid (pH 5.5) but relatively rich in organic matter (2.5–3.00%) due to the manure that is traditionally used in the area. The trees were sufficiently irrigated during the whole growth period. Next August leaf samples were collected from all the trees of the experiment from the current vegetation (well developed leaves from the middle of new branches) and analyzed for B. Composite soil samples were also selected and analyzed for available soil B. The results are shown in the Table 4. From the data of Table 4 it is clear that B deficient olive trees signifi-cantly responded to borax application. The symptoms of B deficiency in the new branches were disappeared (Figure 2C, 2D). Borax rates of 200 g/tree, are consid-ered adequate for the conditions of this experiment for curing B deficiency problem in olive trees.
Table 4. Influence of B fertilization on olive leaf and available soil B concentration (Tsadilas et al., 1994b).
Borax applied B concentration in olive Available soil B
g/tree leaves µg/g d.m. concentration µg/g soil
000 09.4c* 0.32b
200 46.7b 7.52a
350 53.0b 9.14a
500 80.9a 9.16a
* Different letters in the same column denotes statistically significant diefferences at the probability level.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to thank Mrs P. Kazai for her valuable assistance in writing this chapter.
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