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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Nutrition
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1455921

Synergistic effects of chemical and biochemical fertilization on yield enhancement and oil quality optimization in 'Zard' olive cultivars

Provisionally accepted
Mohammad Saeed Tadayon Mohammad Saeed Tadayon *Ahmad Asgharzadeh Ahmad Asgharzadeh Seyed Majid Mousavi Seyed Majid Mousavi Kobra Saghafi Kobra Saghafi
  • Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Iran

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: This research evaluates the combined impact of chemical and biological fertilizers on 'Zard' olive trees, aiming to reduce chemical dependency, enhance fertilizer efficiency, and improve nutritional value, yield, and oil quality from 2020 to 2023.A factorial design within a randomized complete block was used, focusing on the first factor, soil chemical fertilizer application (CF) at three levels, 100% (CF100), 75% (CF75), and 50% (CF50) of the fertilizer requirement as determined by soil testing. This was coupled with foliar applications of 20-20-20 NPK fertilizer with micronutrients. The second factor, biological fertilizer application (BF), also comprised three levels: BF0 (control), soil-applied organic fertilizer without biological agents; BF1, which included a soil application of an organic fertilizer mix, mycorrhizal fungi, and the beneficial bacteria Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas fluorescens, supplemented with fulvic acid and amino acids; and BF1+BFF, where trees were treated with both soil and foliar applications of the aforementioned bacterial species, fulvic acid, and amino acids.The CF100+BF1+BFF treatment significantly increased fruit length (31.14%), diameter (41.61%), flesh thickness (30.48%), fresh weight (38.76%), dry weight (55.68%), and yield per tree (27.00%) compared to the control (CF100+BF0). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) identified CF100+BF1+BFF, CF75+BF1+BFF, and CF50+BF1+BFF as superior treatments for fruit characteristics, while CF50+BF1+BFF excelled in oil quality indicators.The study recommends the CF75+BF1+BFF and CF50+BF1+BFF treatments for concurrent improvements in fruit and oil quality. The combined use of biological fertilizers with reduced chemical fertilizers is considered the superior and optimal approach for fertilizing 'Zard' cultivar olive orchards.

    Keywords: Biological fertilizer, chemical fertilizer, Oil quality, Olive, Plant Nutrition

    Received: 27 Jun 2024; Accepted: 03 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Tadayon, Asgharzadeh, Mousavi and Saghafi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mohammad Saeed Tadayon, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, Iran

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.