Fertilization Effect on Mineral Nutrition of Actinidia Deliciosa (kiwi) Cultivated on Different Substrates

The kiwifruit or Chinese gooseberry represents an important horticultural crop in New Zealand, Italy, and China and nowadays, there are concerns regarding this culture in Romania, for instance the mild microclimates where peach, apricot and almond trees grow. The interest for this culture increased worldwide with consumer acceptance of kiwifruit, having in view health benefits associated with its consumption: source of antioxidants, decrease of lipids in blood, improvement of gastrointestinal laxation. The research conducted at UASVM Bucharest greenhouse was designed as a trifactorial experiment (factor a = cultivar/hybrid, factor b = fertilization system, factor c = substrate) with the aim to investigate the effects of nutrient solutions application on mineral nutrition of Actinidia deliciosa. It were used two types of substrates formulated from manure, peat, fallow soil and sand in different ratio and the biological testing material was represented by cultivars ‘Hayward’, ‘Tomuri’ and hybrid AD-20 varieties from kiwi plant collection of the Faculty of Horticulture. Repeatedly, every 20 days it were applied nutrient solutions (Coïc - Lesant and Cesneacov) and after 90 days from rooting cuttings plantation were performed biometric measurements and were collected leaves for chemical analyses (total forms of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium). The results indicated that accumulation of macroelements in kiwi leaves varied according to the kiwi cultivar/hybrid meanwhile application of nutrient solutions on to substrates generated significand differences.