The value of leaf- feeding dressing in the formation of quality and yield of apple fruits

The research was conducted in 2020-2022 in the conditions of the collection garden of Kursk SAU and LLC ‘Zorinsky Orchard’, Oboyansky district, Kursk region. The experiments were conducted on apple varieties Ligol and Alva, planted in 2016. In the collection orchard of Kursk SAU, seedlings were planted on the seedling stock M-26, in LLC ‘Zorinsky Sad’ - on M-9. The tree layout was 4.0 x 1.5 metres with a planting density of 1,650 trees per 1 ha. Planting of orchards was carried out according to the project of intensive support orchard. The experiment was carried out in triplicate, each option included 10 reference trees. In addition to foliar nutrition, nitrogen fertilizers were applied in spring to the soil of the bordering strip and during the vegetation period the calculated rates of fertilizers with macro- and microelements were applied with irrigation water. The cultivation technology is intensive trellising with Russian spindle formation. Complex systems of mineral leaf nutrition of intensive apple orchards with modern water-soluble fertilizers and growth stimulants of domestic and foreign production have been compiled and tested under production conditions. Practical results of high agronomic and economic efficiency of using foliar fertilizers in mineral nutrition systems of intensive apple orchards in the Central Black Earth Region were obtained. The application of water-soluble microfertilizers and growth stimulants over the leaf surface is a technologically accessible and cost-effective method for optimizing the complex system of mineral nutrition of garden trees during the growing season. Complex foliar feeding significantly increases the productivity of intensive gardens. By Ligol variety, Ikar system gave an increase of 6.7 t/ha, and the Agromaster system 4.3 t/ha, on the Alva variety 4.4 and 5.1 t/ha, respectively. The use of the Fitofert system increases the yield of apple fruits in comparison with the control from 2.1 to 2.6 t/ha according to the experimental variants. Integrated foliar nutrition systems with fertilizers and growth stimulants are an effective method for increasing the productivity of intensive apple orchards.