Effect of various maintained levels of phosphate on the growth, yield, composition,
      and quality of Washington Navel oranges

Chapman, H; Rayner, D

Effect of various maintained levels of phosphate on the growth, yield, composition, and quality of Washington Navel oranges

Authors

H. D. Chapman
D. S. Rayner

Authors Affiliations

H. D. Chapman was Professor of Soils and Plant Nutrition and Chemist in the Experiment Station; D. S. Rayner was Senior Laboratory Technician, Citrus Experiment Station.

Publication Information

Hilgardia 20(17):325-358. DOI:10.3733/hilg.v20n17p325. January 1951.

PDF of full article, Cite this article

Abstract

Abstract does not appear. First page follows.

Introduction

This paper presents the results of an outdoor nutritional experiment carried on for nine years with Washington Navel orange trees growing in solutions of graded phosphate levels.

The objective of this investigation was to determine as completely as possible the effects of varying phosphate supplies on: (1) a wide range of fruit quality characteristics; (2) yield behavior; (3) growth and appearance; and (4) tissue composition with special reference to the diagnosis of phosphorus status.

Review of Literature

Much information relating to various aspects of phosphorus as it affects citrus has gradually accumulated from the work of scattered individuals or groups in different parts of the world. At the time the work reported in this paper was undertaken there was no adequate understanding of the problem. It is rather amazing, considering the radically different condition of water culture employed in the present experiment, that practically all the observations and data reported by others working under the variable soil and climatic conditions prevailing in the world’s citrus regions have been duplicated and substantiated. Because these scattered data are an important contribution, and substantiate our present knowledge of this subject, a rather detailed account of previous experiments and findings is presented herewith.

So far as the authors know, no one has hitherto carried on a phosphate nutritional experiment of such scope and duration as that reported herein.

The only other water culture investigation on phosphorus as related to citrus known to the authors is that reported by (Haas (1936)).

Literature Cited

Allwright W. J. Final report on the fertilizer trials at Rustenberg, Western Transvaal. Citrus Grower. 1938. 52:5-19.

Anderssen F. G. Citrus manuring—its effect on cropping and on the composition and keeping quality of oranges. Jour. Pomol. and Hort. Sci. 1937. 15:117-159.

Anderssen F. G., Bathurst A. C. Nitrogen and phosphorus in oranges. Farming in So. Africa. 1938. 13:349-352.

Bathurst A. C. The effects of superphosphate on orange trees. Farming in So. Africa. 1945. 20:351-353.

Bingham Frank T. Soil test for phosphate. California Agr. 1949. 3:11 14

Chapman H. D., Brown S. M. The effects of phosphorus deficiency on citrus. Hilgardia. 1941. 14:161-181. DOI: 10.3733/hilg.v14n04p161 [CrossRef]

Chapman H. D., Brown S. M. Some fungal infections of citrus in relation to nutrition. Soil Sci. 1942. 54:303-312. DOI: 10.1097/00010694-194211000-00001 [CrossRef]

Chapman H. D., Brown S. M., Liebig George F. Jr. Some effects on citrus fruit quality of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. California Citrogr. 1943. 28(8 and 9):198 211, 230-246

Chapman H. D., Brown S. M., Rayner D. S. Effects of potash deficiency and excess on orange trees. Hilgardia. 1947. 17:619-650. DOI: 10.3733/hilg.v17n19p619 [CrossRef]

Collison S. E. Influence of soil and fertilizer on citrus fruits. Fla. State Hort. Soc. Proc. 1913. 26:168-172.

Crous P. A. Superphosphate experiment, White River 1937. Citrus Grower. 1937. 51:15-17.

Esselsen D. J., Oberholzer P. C. J. Reduction of acid in valencias; effect of superphosphate sprays. Farming in So. Africa. 1939. 14(114):21-22.

Finch A. H., McGeorge W. T. Studies of grapefruit fertilization in Arizona. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. Proc. 1939. 37:62-67.

Finch A. H., McGeorge W. T. Fruiting and physiological responses of Marsh grapefruit trees to fertilization. Arizona Agr. Exp. Sta. Tech. Bul. 1945. p.105.

Forsee W. T. Jr., Neller J. R. Phosphate response in a Valencia grove in the Eastern Everglades. Fla. State Hort. Soc. Proc. 1944. 57:110-115.

Haas A. R. C. Phosphorus deficiency in citrus. Soil Sci. 1936. 42:93-117. DOI: 10.1097/00010694-193608000-00003 [CrossRef]

Hilgeman R. H. Studies of the ripening of Marsh grapefruit in Arizona with special reference to the improvement of maturity measurements. Arizona Agr. Exp. Sta. Tech. Bul. 1941. p.89.

Innes R. F. Fertilizer experiments on grapefruit in Jamaica. Trop. Agr., Trinidad. 1946. 23:131-134.

Jones Winston W., Parker E. R. Effects of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer and of organic materials on the composition of Washington navel orange juice. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. Proc. 1949. 53:91-102.

Klotz Leo J., Boyce A. M., Chapman H. D., Carman G. E., Cree Clarence, Jones W. W., Riehl L. A., Sinclair W. B., Parker E. R., Stewart W. S., Turrell F. M. Water spot of navel oranges: studies of the problem to 1948. 1948. Lithoprint: Univ. Calif. Agr. Exp. Sta.

Lilleland Omund. Experiments in K and P deficiencies with fruit trees in the field. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. Proc. 1932. 29:272-276.

Morris A. A. The effect of differential fertilizer treatments on the yield and quality of fruit from mature bearing Valencia late trees on Mazoe Citrus Estate, Southern Rhodesia. Brit. So. Africa Co. Pub. 6. Mazoe Citrus Exp. Sta. Rept. 1937. 1936:107-153.

Parker E. R., Batchelor L. D. Effects of fertilizers on orange yields. California Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 1942. 673:1-39.

Parker F. W. Soil phosphorus studies. III. Plant growth and the absorption of phosphorus from culture solutions of different phosphate concentrations. Soil Sci. 1927. 24:129-145. DOI: 10.1097/00010694-192708000-00006 [CrossRef]

Reuther Walter, Gardner Frank E., Smith Paul F., Roy Wallace R. Phosphate fertilizer trials with oranges in Florida. I. Effects on yield, growth, and leaf and soil composition. Proc. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 1949. 55:71-84.

Reuther Walter, Crawford C. L. Effect of certain soil and irrigation treatments on citrus chlorosis in a calcareous soil. Soil Sci. 1946. 62:477-491. DOI: 10.1097/00010694-194703000-00005 [CrossRef]

Smith Paul F., Reuther Walter, Gardner Frank E. Phosphate fertilizer trials with oranges in Florida. II. Effect on some fruit qualities. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. Proc. 1949. 53:85-90.

Takahashi Ikuro. The effect of phosphoric acid on citrus. Okitsu Hort. Soc. Jour. 1931. 27:18-30.

Van der Plank J. E., Turner F. A. S. Are our sour oranges due to lack of phosphorus? Farming in So. Africa. 1936. 11:59-60.

Wallihan E. F. The phosphorus economy of plants. Amer. Jour. Bot. 1951. (submitted for publication)

West E. S. Zinc-cured mottle leaf in citrus induced by excess phosphate. Austral. Council Sci. &; Indus. Res. Jour. 1938. 11(2):182-184.

Williams R. F. The effect of phosphorus supply on the rates of intake of phosphorus and nitrogen upon certain aspects of phosphorus metabolism in gramineous plants. Austral. Jour. Sci. Res. Series B. Biological Sciences. 1948. 1(3):333-361.

Young T. W., Forsee W. T. Jr. Fertilizer experiments with citrus on Davie mucky fine sand. Fla. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bul. 1949. p.461.