Responses of ‘Belidi’ olives to foliar and soil applied iron, manganese and zinc fertilizers

Abstract: Present study was carried out to evaluate impact of micronutrients application (manganese, iron and zinc) with different methods (foliar or soil application) on quality parameters of ‘Belidi’ olive in Fars province. Chelated iron sequestrene 138, zinc and manganese sulfates were soil applied once a year and iron, zinc and manganese sulfate were foliar applied on plants, three times a year, alone or in combination. Results indicated that fertilizer application method did not have significant impact on tree productivity and fruit quality parameters in bearing or non-bearing years and alternate bearing in ‘Belidi’ olive trees was not correlated significantly with manganese, iron and zinc deficiency. It seems that foliar application of micronutrients fertilizers in regions with alkaline soils is a better strategy for improvement of olive production.