EFFECT OF BIO AND ORGANIC NITROGEN FERTILIZATION AND ELEMENTAL SULPHUR APPLICATION ON GROWTH, YIELD AND FRUIT QUALITY OF FLAME SEEDLESS GRAPEVINES

This investigation was carried out during 2006 and 2007 seasons, to study the effect of organic manure, biofertilization and elemental sulphur application on growth, yield and berry quality of Flame seedless grapevines. The obtained results showed that: - Leaf area, pruning wood weight and leaf NPK percentage significantly increased by using biofertilization and organic nitrogen form as well as sulphur application compared to using mineral-N alone. - Using 75% of recommended nitrogen dose (RND) at either bio or organic form plus 25% at mineral-N as well as 50% RND plus sulphur application gave the maximum values of these traits. - Fertilizing the vines with RDN via 75% bio or organic form plus 25% mineral-N as well as 50% RDN plus 0.5 kg sulphur application/vine significantly increased number of clusters and yield/vine as well as improved the cluster and berry attributes compared to using RND via mineral form only. It is evident from the foregoing results that using 75% RDN as bio or organic fertilizers plus 25% as mineral source or 50% RDN as organic or mineral source plus 0.5 kg/vine elemental sulphur application were sufficient to get good nutritional status, healthy and more productive Flame seedless grapevines. Finally, it is concluded that replacing 75% of RDN for grapevines by either organic or biofertilizers as well as using 50% of RDN combined with sulphur application were very useful in improving growth, nutritional status of vines. In addition, get the high yield with good quality as well as minimize the production costs and environment pollution which could be occurred by excess of chemical fertilizers