The nutrition of a fruit tree is a complex issue and must be carefully analyzed, warns the researcher Juan Francisco Palma in his published texts. In general, continues the researcher, a plant cannot complement its cycle when an essential element is lacking (Law of the Minimum), because the function of the deficient element cannot be replaced by another element. Each one has a specific role in plant metabolism.

On the other hand, the yield of a crop is based on internal and external factors to the plant, in the first case it is the rooting capacity and its resistance to low temperatures, which are based on the genetic potential of the plant. In the case of factors external to the plant, which we call biotic factors, there are weather conditions, soil characteristics, nutritional factors, agronomic techniques and others.

Seminar in Trujillo

"News in blueberry nutrition: analytical methodology and crop control" will be the exhibition that the agricultural engineer and manager of development of Global Markets at SQM, Juan Francisco Palma, will develop at the next International Blueberry Seminar to be held in Trujillo, Peru, on July 6 and 7 at the Costa del Sol Windham Hotel Trujillo Golf.

The complex and essential topic, highlighting what is new in nutrition, its most appropriate methods of analysis and control, will be addressed together with the production manager of SQM Vitas Peru, Edgar de la Cruz Huertas, during the first day of the Trujillo International Seminar.

Mineral nutrition, the main

Due to the nature of the elements involved and the characteristics of the processes, plant nutrition can be considered from a triple perspective:

• - water nutrition, in which the water penetrates mainly through the roots, then passing into the atmosphere via aerial organs by transpiration.
• - carbonated nutrition, characterized by opposing gaseous changes with the atmosphere through photosynthesis.
• - mineral nutrition, which is linked to the remaining elements other than hydrogen (H2), O2 and Carbon (C). Their incorporation into the plant takes place almost exclusively via root absorption and, as they are fixed elements, their release is only linked to the senescence and abscission of leaves and fruits.

In qualitative terms, the mineral components represent less than 10% of the dry weight of the plant, compared to 40% to 50% of carbon, 42% to 44% of oxygen and 6% to 7% of hydrogen, which are captured from the air and form organic compounds by photosynthetic process. However, despite the small amount that mineral elements represent, they have a fundamental role in the nutrition of vegetables.

The roots, stems and leaves of the plant represent the sum of its growth processes, processes that are influenced by many environmental factors. However, you can be sure that none is more important than mineral nutrition. The mineral nutritional elements determine, among other processes, the reversible transition from the vegetative to the reproductive state; they accelerate or retard the speed of growth, control the generation and maturation of seeds and fruits; modify susceptibility to extreme heat and cold; they increase or decrease their resistance to drought and determine the quality of the products through the biochemistry of carbohydrates, proteins and natural products.

Analysis methodology

Continuing with the research and publications of Juan Francisco Palma, leaves, petioles, roots, fruits, limbs, fruit peduncles, bark, vine shoots or other parts of the plant can be used in the analysis. Once the content of the nutrient(s) in the appropriate tissue has been determined, the information must be evaluated through one or more interpretation systems. In any case, regardless of the system or systems to be used, if you want to use foliar analysis as an element of study for nutritional problems, it is necessary to previously establish the patterns or reference indices (standards).

It is necessary to establish these patterns in the ecological niche itself to carry out an adequate diagnosis, he advises.

For its part, the enormous development of instrumental analysis has made it possible to make foliar analysis an exact and precise tool for achieving an adequate nutritional diagnosis. On the other hand, there are official organizations at the international level (Inter-European Committee for Leaf Analysis Techniques) that are concerned with establishing leaf analysis techniques and preparing standards or reference patterns. Consequently, contact with these centers allows us to have updated methodologies, concludes the specialist.

The topic of nutrition will also be addressed by other researchers and from other perspectives during the meeting, as well as the post-harvest process, organic production, regulatory bodies, fertigation, the condition of the fruit on arrival, the quality of fruit, cultivation in pots, foliar diseases, biological control strategies and new technological applications in pre-harvest to obtain good quality fruit, among other topics.