Response of Olive Trees (Olea europaea L.) cv. Zaity to Bio health and Foliar Spray of Tecamin max and Boron

Abstract

During the growing season of 2022, the experiment was conducted in one of the private orchards located in Hassan ava village, Zakho district, Dohuk governorate, Kurdistan region, Iraq, to study the response of olive tree (Olea europaea L.) cv. Zaity to biofertilizer (bio health) and foliar spray of the amino acid (tecamin max) and Boron. Olive trees were planted 6 x 6 m apart on clay sandy loam soil and fed with well water using a drip irrigation system. Olive trees were treated with three levels of biofertilizer (bio health) at (0, 1,0 and 15 g.L^-1), added to the soil, and three levels of the foliar spray with amino acid (tecamin max) at (0, 10, 15 ml.L^-1), and three levels (0, 200 and 300 mg. L^-1) of boron foliar spray. A factorial experiment with three replications was carried out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD), using one tree for each experimental unit. The study reached the following results: application of biofertilizer (bio health) in the soil, especially at 15 g.L^-1, and foliar spraying of the amino acid (tecamin max) at 15 ml.L^-1 led to a significant increase in all studied characters (leaves mineral content N, P, K, and B%) and physical characters of fruit (fruit weight, fruit length, fruit width and total yield per tree) except pulp: stone ratio, while the control treatment gave the lowest average for the aforementioned traits. Foliar spray of boron especially the level of 300 mg. L^-1, led to a significant increase in all the studied characteristics (leaves mineral content N, K, and B%) and physical characters of fruit (fruit weight, fruit length, fruit width, and total yield per tree) except pulp: stone ratio and phosphorus content in leaves, while the comparison treatment gave the lowest average for the aforementioned traits. There was also a significant increase in the binary and triple interactions of the study treatments on all the studied traits, especially the high levels of the study factors (15 g.L^-1 bio-health, 15 ml.L^-1 tecamin max, and 300 mg. L^-1 boron).