Foliar-applied urea at bloom improves early fruit growth and nitrogen status of spur leaves in pear trees, cv. Williams Bon Chretien

The fruit size of early ripening pear varieties is one of the most important attributes for its quality. In pear (Pyrus communis L.) the thinning effect of urea is controversial, even if urea sprays increase in general the average fruit size. We therefore tested the hypothesis that foliar-applied ur...

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Autores principales: Curetti, Mariela, Sanchez, Enrique Eduardo, Tagliavini, Massimo, Gioacchini, Paola
Formato: info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/23415
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304423812005080
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2012.10.022
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author Curetti, Mariela
Sanchez, Enrique Eduardo
Tagliavini, Massimo
Gioacchini, Paola
author_browse Curetti, Mariela
Gioacchini, Paola
Sanchez, Enrique Eduardo
Tagliavini, Massimo
author_facet Curetti, Mariela
Sanchez, Enrique Eduardo
Tagliavini, Massimo
Gioacchini, Paola
author_sort Curetti, Mariela
collection INTA Digital
description The fruit size of early ripening pear varieties is one of the most important attributes for its quality. In pear (Pyrus communis L.) the thinning effect of urea is controversial, even if urea sprays increase in general the average fruit size. We therefore tested the hypothesis that foliar-applied urea at bloom also plays an important nutritional role. Trials were carried out in two orchards of the experimental farm of the INTA Alto Valle research station, in the province of Rio Negro, Argentina on mature trees of the cv. “Williams Bon chretien” on seedling. Urea (5%, w/v) application at full bloom had a slight effect of fruit thinning of fruitlets, but increased fruit size and the number of cells per fruit. Sprayed spurs showed larger fruit weight before a significant difference in fruit number per spur was observed. The uptake of N from urea, measured by the aid 15N techniques, enhanced N concentration and contents of flowers and spur leaves by about 10%. Although we cannot exclude that the thinning effect of urea has contributed to the enhancing of the fruit size and the number of cells per fruits, our data indicated that before the thinning effect of urea occurred, the fruit size already benefited from the foliar N supply due to an enhanced leaf and flower N concentration. Due to the both the thinning and the nutritional effects, the supply of urea early of the season is therefore a powerful and relatively inexpensive tool for enhancing fruit size in pear trees.
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institution Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA -Argentina)
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spelling INTA234152025-08-12T14:49:56Z Foliar-applied urea at bloom improves early fruit growth and nitrogen status of spur leaves in pear trees, cv. Williams Bon Chretien Curetti, Mariela Sanchez, Enrique Eduardo Tagliavini, Massimo Gioacchini, Paola Pyrus communis Aclareo Supresión de Frutos Nitrógeno Thinning Defruiting Nitrogen Pears Pera Cell Number Fruit Thinning Leaf Uptake Numero de Celular Aclareo de Frutos Absorción Foliar The fruit size of early ripening pear varieties is one of the most important attributes for its quality. In pear (Pyrus communis L.) the thinning effect of urea is controversial, even if urea sprays increase in general the average fruit size. We therefore tested the hypothesis that foliar-applied urea at bloom also plays an important nutritional role. Trials were carried out in two orchards of the experimental farm of the INTA Alto Valle research station, in the province of Rio Negro, Argentina on mature trees of the cv. “Williams Bon chretien” on seedling. Urea (5%, w/v) application at full bloom had a slight effect of fruit thinning of fruitlets, but increased fruit size and the number of cells per fruit. Sprayed spurs showed larger fruit weight before a significant difference in fruit number per spur was observed. The uptake of N from urea, measured by the aid 15N techniques, enhanced N concentration and contents of flowers and spur leaves by about 10%. Although we cannot exclude that the thinning effect of urea has contributed to the enhancing of the fruit size and the number of cells per fruits, our data indicated that before the thinning effect of urea occurred, the fruit size already benefited from the foliar N supply due to an enhanced leaf and flower N concentration. Due to the both the thinning and the nutritional effects, the supply of urea early of the season is therefore a powerful and relatively inexpensive tool for enhancing fruit size in pear trees. EEA Alto Valle Fil: Curetti, Mariela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Alto Valle; Argentina Fil: Sánchez, Enrique Eduardo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Alto Valle; Argentina Fil: Tagliavini, Massimo. Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. Faculty of Science and Technology; Italia Fil: Gioacchini, Paola. University of Bologna. Department of Agro-environmental Science and Technology; Italia 2025-08-12T14:40:20Z 2025-08-12T14:40:20Z 2013-02-04 info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/23415 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304423812005080 0304-4238 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2012.10.022 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) application/pdf Elsevier Scientia Horticulturae 150 : 16–21 (February 2013)
spellingShingle Pyrus communis
Aclareo
Supresión de Frutos
Nitrógeno
Thinning
Defruiting
Nitrogen
Pears
Pera
Cell Number
Fruit Thinning
Leaf Uptake
Numero de Celular
Aclareo de Frutos
Absorción Foliar
Curetti, Mariela
Sanchez, Enrique Eduardo
Tagliavini, Massimo
Gioacchini, Paola
Foliar-applied urea at bloom improves early fruit growth and nitrogen status of spur leaves in pear trees, cv. Williams Bon Chretien
title Foliar-applied urea at bloom improves early fruit growth and nitrogen status of spur leaves in pear trees, cv. Williams Bon Chretien
title_full Foliar-applied urea at bloom improves early fruit growth and nitrogen status of spur leaves in pear trees, cv. Williams Bon Chretien
title_fullStr Foliar-applied urea at bloom improves early fruit growth and nitrogen status of spur leaves in pear trees, cv. Williams Bon Chretien
title_full_unstemmed Foliar-applied urea at bloom improves early fruit growth and nitrogen status of spur leaves in pear trees, cv. Williams Bon Chretien
title_short Foliar-applied urea at bloom improves early fruit growth and nitrogen status of spur leaves in pear trees, cv. Williams Bon Chretien
title_sort foliar applied urea at bloom improves early fruit growth and nitrogen status of spur leaves in pear trees cv williams bon chretien
topic Pyrus communis
Aclareo
Supresión de Frutos
Nitrógeno
Thinning
Defruiting
Nitrogen
Pears
Pera
Cell Number
Fruit Thinning
Leaf Uptake
Numero de Celular
Aclareo de Frutos
Absorción Foliar
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/23415
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304423812005080
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2012.10.022
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