논문 상세보기
pp.587-602
Correlations of soil and leaf nutrients and growth of young ‘Enterprise’ apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) trees were analyzed with tree damage, such as Japanese beetle (JB; Popillia japonica Newman)-damaged leaves, vole damage to trunk, tree mortality, and weed density in a certified organic orchard in warm and humid environment of Southern USA. Interaction treatments of four mulch and three fertilizers were applied around trees as follows: mow-and-blow (MB), shredded paper (SP), wood chips (WC), and green compost (GC) as a mulch, with no fertilizer (NF), poultry litter (PL), and commercial organic fertilizer (CF) as a fertilizer applied in April. Vole damage to trunk and weed density were little correlated with mineral nutrients and tree growth. JB-damaged leaves were highly stimulated to 26.5% in GC-treated plots while tree mortality were increased by MB treatments. Biomass production per tree was approximately 3,700 g on the WC- and GC-treated plots, which was two times higher than those values observed on the other two mulch plots. JB-damaged leaves tended to get worse when nutrients in soil and leaf increased through the correlation analysis, with a strong positive relationship (r2 = 0.585) observed between JB-damaged leaves and trunk cross sectional area, a vegetative indicator. Tree mortality was more negatively associated with nutrient contents and growth of trees than those of soil nutrients. Wood chips was considered for a local organic mulch materials to increase organic matter contents and to produce healthy young trees in Southern USA, with control insect, such as beetle, and vole density in an orchard habitat.
