Total and Fractional Composition of Water in Pear Leaves Depending on the Optimised Fertiliser

Abstract

The water content in tissues is an important indicator of the physiological state of the plant and is of great importance in the comparative assessment of their cultivation measures that increase productivity. One of such measures is rational fertilisation of plantings, which determines the relevance of the study. The purpose of the study was to establish the effect of optimised fertiliser on the water content in pear tree leaves and the fractional composition of water during stressful growing periods. One of the critical problems is drought, which negatively affects the growth and productivity of plantings. Under such conditions, the turgor of plant cells decreases and the passage of biochemical and physiological processes in the plant slows down. The paper considers the results of studying the water regime of leaves (the content of total, available, and inaccessible moisture) of pear varieties Konferentsia and Osnovianska on vegetative rootstock Quince A grown using optimised fertiliser in nonirrigated plantations. The study was conducted in 2011 and 2018 in a certified educational and research laboratory of the Uman National University of Horticulture. It was found that during the age periods of growth and fruiting, there was a change in the total water content in the pear leaves of the studied varieties. Leaves from pear trees of the Konferentsia variety had a higher water content compared to the Osnovianska variety. Fertiliser options increased the total water content in the leaves, which had a positive effect on the condition of the trees. It was found that at the beginning of the growing season, the free water content in the leaves of pear varieties Konferentsia and Osnovianska was higher, while it significantly decreased in the middle of the season. The bound water content was higher in all studied options. Under stressful situations (drought, temperature increase), fertiliser application had a positive effect on the water content in the leaves of both studied pear varieties. The practical significance of the study is to recommend the production of a rational fertiliser system for nonirrigated pear plantations in different age periods of growth and fruiting, which positively affected the water content in leaves and the fractional composition of water during stressful periods of cultivation