Effect of Some Biostimulants on the Vegetative Growth, Yield, Fruit Quality Attributes and Nutritional Status of Apple

Although the application of chemical fertilizers to crops promotes plant growth and yield, their continuous use affects soil heath and creates environmental pollution. On the other hand, plant biostimulants improve nutrients absorption, plant growth, yield and produce quality and are environment-friendly. Therefore, an experiment was conducted during 2021-22 to evaluate the effect of some biostimulants on the performance of the apple cv. Anna, planted in a sandy loam soil at Marsa Matruh governorate, Egypt. Ninety trees were randomly selected and sprayed with 4 or 6% moringa leaf extract (MLE), 0.3 or 0.4% seaweed extract (SWE), 0.1% or 0.2% Fulvic acid (FA), 4% MLE + 0.3% SWE + 0.1% FA (combination 1), or 6% MLE + 0.4% SWE + 0.2% FA (combination 2) before flowering, during full bloom and one month later and compared with a control (untreated trees). The results demonstrated that spraying MLE, SWE or FA or their combinations positively improved the vegetative growth, fruit set %, fruit yield and fruit physical and chemical characteristics as well as leaf nutritional status. The positive effect of MLE, SWE and FA was increased in parallel to an increase in the used concentration of each one of them. The highest increments in the measured parameters were accompanied by the application of combination 2 over the other treatments.

Automated summary

The continuous use of chemical fertilizers affects soil health and creates environmental pollution, while plant biostimulants improve nutrient absorption, plant growth, yield, and produce quality in an environmentally friendly way. An experiment in Egypt showed that spraying moringa leaf extract, seaweed extract, fulvic acid, or their combinations improved the performance of apple trees in terms of growth, fruit set, yield, and fruit characteristics.