The influence of soil amendments on growth, tree vitality, and mortality of Pyrus communis ‘Williams’ Bon Chrétien’ in Year 2.
Treatment | Tree vitality | Growth | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SPAD | PI | Pn | Fruit yield/tree (kg) | Crown volume | Mortality (%) | |
Control (no amendment) | 41.5 | 4.0 | 3.90 | 4.5 | 0.71 | 0 |
Molasses pellets | 41.3ns | 4.6ns | 4.22ns | 6.0* | 0.82ns | 0 |
Biochar | 45.5ns | 6.2* | 4.50* | 6.2* | 0.95* | 0 |
BOOST Organic granular | 52.3* | 7.5* | 4.62* | 7.8* | 0.84* | 0 |
BOOST Organic granular + biochar | 55.8* | 7.7* | 4.48* | 7.8* | 0.90* | 0 |
BOOST Organic granular + molasses pellets | 50.9* | 7.0* | 4.46* | 7.2* | 0.82* | 0 |
Molasses pellets + biochar | 48.8* | 6.1* | 4.60* | 5.9* | 0.87* | 0 |
BOOST Organic granular + molasses pellets + biochar | 51.1* | 6.9* | 4.39* | 6.6* | 0.83* | 0 |
Notes: All values mean of surviving trees from an initial number of 10. Asterisk (*) = significant differences between means (P = 0.05). P < 0.05 are considered significant based on Tukey’s Honestly Significant Difference test. SPAD = estimated leaf chlorophyll content, PI = chlorophyll fluorescence, Pn = light-induced CO2 fixation.