The Effect of Iron Chelate on Some Qualitative and Quantitative Traits of Pistachio Trees

In recent years, the growth of pistachio production in Iran has not been in line with the global growth of this product, one of the important reasons for which is the improper nutrition of pistachio orchards, especially nutrition with low consumption elements. Due to the salinity and calcareous soil of pistachio cultivation areas, high pH and bicarbonate concentration, it is difficult to absorb iron from soil by pistachio trees. In order to evaluate the methods of application of iron chelate and its different concentrations on the quantitative and qualitative properties of pistachio and iron uptake, a factorial experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The first factor consisted of iron chelate foliar solution (spraying without electrostatic head and surfactant, electrostatic, surfactant and electrostatic + surfactant) and the second factor, iron chelate concentrations (distilled water as control, 0.5, 1, 5 1 kg of iron chelate per thousand liters of water). The results showed that the interaction effect of electrostatic spray treatment with surfactant and iron chelate concentrations had only significant effect on leaf iron concentration and fresh and dry weight of pistachio kernel. The results of the mean comparison showed that the data on leaf iron concentration and dry and wet brain weight were significantly different. So that the highest concentration of leaf iron (302.9 ppm in dry matter) was observed in the treatment of surfactant and electrostatic head and 1.5 kg of iron chelate in one thousand liters of water, which was 3 times higher than the control treatment. The highest dry kernel weight (12.4 g) and wet kernel weight (22.25 g) were observed in the treatment of surfactant and electrostatic head and 1.5 kg of iron chelate per thousand liters of water, which were 3.5 and 7 g, respectively. Control treatment increased weight gain. The percentage of blankness (8.16%) in the treatment of 1.5 kg of kalat iron per thousand liters of water was observed, which was a 3% decrease compared to the control treatment. The concentration of iron in pistachio kernels (52.41 ppm in dry matter) was observed in 1.5 kg of iron chelate treatment per thousand liters of water, which increased up to 3 times compared to the control treatment. The percentage of dehisced nuts (65.25%) in the treatment of 1.5 kg of iron chelate in one thousand liters of water was observed, which increased by 10% compared to the control treatment. Also, the highest concentrations of pistachio kernel iron (42.65 ppm in dry matter) were observed in the electrostatic and surfactant solution treatment, which increased 3 times compared to the control treatment. The highest percentage of dehisced nuts (63.91%) was in electrostatic and surfactant solution spraying, which increased by 4% compared to the control treatment. In general, in this study, electrostatic solution spraying with surfactant with a concentration of 1.5 kg of iron chelate per thousand liters of water had a better effect on the concentration of leaf iron and pistachio kernel, percentage of laughter and wet and dry weight of pistachio kernel than control.