Nitrogen Use Efficiency, Allocation, and Remobilization in Apple Trees: Uptake Is Optimized With Pre-harvest N Supply

Bi Zheng Tan; Dugald C Close; Peter R Quin; Nigel D Swarts

doi:10.3389/fpls.2021.657070

Nitrogen Use Efficiency, Allocation, and Remobilization in Apple Trees: Uptake Is Optimized With Pre-harvest N Supply

Front Plant Sci. 2021 May 31:12:657070. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.657070. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Bi Zheng Tan¹, Dugald C Close¹, Peter R Quin¹, Nigel D Swarts¹

Affiliation

¹ Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, College of Sciences and Engineering, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia.

Abstract

Optimizing the utilization of applied nitrogen (N) in fruit trees requires N supply that is temporally matched to tree demand. We investigated how the timing of N application affected uptake, allocation, and remobilization within 14-year-old "Gala"/M26 apple trees (Malus domestica Borkh) over two seasons. In the 2017-2018 season, 30 g N tree^-1 of 5.5 atom% ¹⁵N-calcium nitrate was applied by weekly fertigation in four equal doses, commencing either 4 weeks after full bloom (WAFB) (pre-harvest) or 1-week post-harvest, or fortnightly, divided between pre- and post-harvest (50:50 split). Nitrogen uptake derived from fertilizer (NDF) was monitored by leaf sampling before whole trees were destructively harvested at dormancy of the first season to quantify N uptake and allocation and at fruit harvest of the second season to quantify the remobilization of NDF. The uptake efficiency of applied N fertilizer (NUpE) was significantly higher from pre-harvest (32.0%) than from the other treatments (~17%). The leaf NDF concentration, an indicator of N uptake, increased concomitantly only when pre-harvest N was applied. Pre-harvest treated trees allocated more than half of the NDF into fruit and leaves and stored the same amount of NDF into perennial organs as the post-harvest treatment. Subsequent spring remobilization of NDF was not affected by the timing of N fertigation from the previous season. A seasonal effect of remobilization was observed with a decrease in root N status and a reciprocal increase in branch N status at fruit harvest of season two. These findings represent a shift in the understanding of dynamics of N use in mature deciduous trees and indicate that current fertilizer strategies need to be adjusted from post-harvest to primarily pre-harvest N application to optimize N use efficiency. This approach can provide adequate storage N to support early spring growth the following season with no detriment to fruit quality.

Keywords: 15N; application timing; nitrogen uptake; nitrogen use efficiency; partitioning (nitrogen); remobilization (nitrogen); storage (nitrogen).