Abstract

RAZETO, Bruno  and  VALDES, Graciela. Tissue Soluble Iron Analysis for the Diagnosis of Iron Deficiency in Nectarine. Agric. Téc. [online]. 2006, vol.66, n.2, pp. 216-220. ISSN 0365-2807.  doi: 10.4067/S0365-28072006000200012.

The objective of the present study was to test the total iron and soluble (active) iron in the dry tissues of leaves and shoots as indicators of the supply of iron in nectarines (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch. var. nucipersica C.K. Schneid.). The trial was carried out during the 2003-2004 growing season in an eight-year-old ‘August Red’ nectarine orchard located on a calcareous (Petrocalcic Calciaquolls) soil. Four trees with severe symptoms of iron chlorosis, four with moderate symptoms and four with normal foliage were randomly selected. On January 7, the chlorophyll concentration in the leaves was measured by SPAD method, and the concentration of total and soluble iron was analyzed in samples of 80 leaves and 12 shoots. The Chlorophyll concentration in the leaf was greater in trees without symptoms, intermediate in moderately chlorotic trees and low in severely chlorotic trees. Total iron concentration in the leaf as well as the shoot, did not represent the level of chlorosis of the trees. The soluble iron concentration in the leaf did not reliably indicate with the intensity of chlorosis. On the other hand, soluble iron concentration in the shoot, altthough did not discriminate between severely and moderately chlorotic trees, was higher in the normal trees than in chlorotic trees. In addition, soluble iron in the shoot had a high lineal correlation with leaf chlorophyll (R² = 0.83).

Keywords : iron chlorosis; chlorophyll; total iron,; although.