Combined Effects of Mycorrhizal Inoculation, Organic Fertilizer and Potassium Application on the Yield and Chemical Composition of Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Leaves

Chemical, bio and organic fertilizers have an important role in increasing of quantity and quality of agricultural products. In order to study the effects of mycorrhizal inoculation, potassium and organic manure applications on the yield and chemical composition of pomegranate leaves, a factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted, in Jannatshahr region, located nearby Darab at Fars province in 2013, . Treatments were a combination of two levels of 0 and 500 grams of mycorrhiza, three levels of 0, 10 and 20 kg sheep manure and two levels of 0 and 500 g of potassium oxide per tree. Mycorrhizae and sheep manure were used before flowering and potassium was applied before and after flowering. The measured factors were yield per tree, fruit weight, skin weight, grain weight, grain skin than five fruits and concentration of potassium, phosphorus, iron, manganese, zinc and copper in leaves. The results showed that the main effects of mycorrhiza, potassium and manure application on the most of studied characteristics were significant. The highest average weight of 5 fruits, the highest kernel weight and the lowest skin-to-kernel weight ratio were obtained from combined application of 500 grams mycorrhizal, 20 kg of manure and 500 g of K2O. The maximum concentration of potassium, phosphorus, iron, copper, manganese and zinc were obtained from combined use of 500 grams of mycorrhiza, 500 grams K2O and 20 kg of sheep manure per each tree. The highest yield of pomegranate fruit (44 kg per tree) were obtained from combined application of 500 g mycorrhiza, 10 kg of sheep manure and 500 g of K2O, which compared with the control treatment, showed 127% increase in yield and can be recommended as the superior treatment.