Ghada Kattmah* (1) Georges Makhoul(2) Soheel Makhool(1) Mohamad Al Naddaf(2) Mohamad Ahmad(2) Nizar Hamoud(1) Wisam Massa(3) and Mahmoud Dawood(4)
(1). Horticulture Research Administration, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research GCSAR, Damascus, Syria.
(2). Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Tishreen University Latakia, Syria.
(3). Barshen Research Station, Hamah Research Center, GCSAR, Damascus, Syria.
(4). Beit Kamouna Research Station, Tartous Research Center, GCSAR, Damascus, Syria.
(*Corresponding author: Dr. Ghada Kattmah. E-Mail: ghada978@gmail.com).
Received: 18/03/2018 Accepted: 04/08/2018
Abstract
This research was conducted during the period (2015-2017) as a part of project included in the Cooperation Agreement between the Ministry of High Education and the General Commission of Agricultural Scientific Research (GCSAR) and was funded equally by two participating sides, in order to study the impact of the organic production system on soil properties and productivity indicators of olive variety “Doebli” in two sites: Moseif and Safita, the orchard in each site was divided into two plots with an area of 1 dunum. The first one is managed under the organic system according to Syrian Organic Law (sheep manure fertilizer: 2 tone/dunum, green manure grass pea: barley 9:1 in rate of 15 kg/dunum, excessive pruning in the year of heavy production and 3 tillages per year), while the second part was managed under the conventional practices used by farmer (chemical fertilizer NPK, Urea 46%: 500g/tree in two patches in March and April, potassium sulfate 50%: 300g/tree in March, superphosphate 45%: 300g/tree in November, balanced pruning, 5 tillages per year), and the two plots were separated by two lines of trees. The soil analysis was carried out before and after the organic and conventional treatments, as well as some indicators of productivity (the length of recent vegetative shoots, sex ratio and fruit set ratio). The results of soil analysis at the two sites showed that the organic treatment was significantly higher than its conventional counterparts in terms of organic matter, total nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. The effect of the experimental treatments appeared increasingly at the end of the second season, these elements were gradually released as a result of the fermentation of manure and green manure, and the release of organic acids in the soil. It was observed that the organic treatments were superior to the conventional ones in term of the length of recent vegetative growths (7.32, 3.39 cm, respectively), and the number of flowers per inflorescence which was 14.73 in the organic treatment compared to 12.53 in the conventional one, so the difference between the two treatments was significant, the superior revealed also in the sex ratio (2.74 and 2.11, respectively) and fruit set ratio (4.71 and 3.8%, respectively). This study confirmed the positive effect of the organic production system in improving the olive farm environment and the soil, in order to achieve more yield and production sustainability in farm by using safe and healthy environmental methods.
Key words: Olive, Organic treatment, Conventional treatment, Soil character, Productivity.
Full paper in Arabic: PDF