Toward sustainable oliviculture: Effects of replacing mineral with organic nitrogen on floral behaviour, fruit quality and yield
1Pomology Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Egypt. 2Organic Crop Production Department, Faculty of Organic Agriculture, Heliopolis University, Egypt. 3Biotechnology Department, Faculty of Organic Agriculture, Heliopolis University, Egypt. 4Department of Soil Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Egypt. Corresponding e-mail: ahmed.Rasheedy@agr.cu.edu.eg
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37855/jah.2025.v27i03.90
Full text PDF Agriculture is at a crossroads, as high productivity frequently comes at the expense?of the environment and human health. Organic agriculture provides this platform by decreasing dependence on synthetic?inputs and maintaining ecological equilibrium. The present investigation was undertaken to substitute mineral nitrogen (1 kg/tree) with organic sources (25 kg compost/tree treated once and bio inoculants with a combination of Azotobacter chroococcum, Bacillus megaterium and?Bacillus circulans three times per tree). The number of inflorescences per shoot and flowers per inflorescence were also enhanced by the organic treatments, with up to 22 and?14% increases compared with mineral nitrogen. It also?increased flower sex ratio and fruit set at both initial and final set by 7–14% and decreased the fruit drop by almost 30%. Yield, fruit weight and size?were all significantly increased and fruit weight was increased by more than 50% in both years. These results indicate that organic nitrogen sources can be used to?enhance flowering, fruiting and fruit yield characteristics of the Toffahi olive variety under saline water irrigation, and may be a promising, environmentally friendly approach to sustainable cultivation under climate stress conditions.
