Effects of water-fertilizer coupling on fruit yield and quality of Malus'Jinxiu'in cold regions
LI Hengkai
WANG Haichao
PEI Zhiyong
ZHANG Junyao
WANG Xinping
CHEN Congyu
CAI Yun
ZHANG Yan
GU Yiming
LI Weiyi
BAO Chunming
Abstract：[Objective]Low temperatures and water limitations in the cold region of Eastern Inner Mongolia constrain the growth and yield of Malus'Jinxiu'.Improving water and fertilizer management is critical for maintaining yield and fruit quality.The objective of this paper is to experimentally identify the optimal water-fertilizer management strategy for dwarf Malus'Jinxiu'under drip irrigation in this region.[Method]Six-year-old dwarf Malus'Jinxiu'trees,grafted onto Malus baccata rootstock with GM256 interstock and cultivated for three years,were used in the experiment.A 3×3 completely randomized block design was employed.Fertilization treatments included application of a macronutrient water-soluble fertilizer(A)and an organic water-soluble fertilizer(B)at the following combinations:180 kg/hm2 of A+720 kg/hm2 of B(F1),270 kg/hm2 of A+1 080 kg/hm2 of B(F2),and 360 kg/hm2 of A+1 440 kg/hm2 of B(F3).The irrigation treatments included maintaining the soil moisture above 40％(S1),60％(S2),and 80％(S3)of field capacity;the control(CK)was under natural conditions.During the experiment,physiological traits,growth,yield,and fruit quality indices were measured;the effects of irrigation and fertilization were evaluated using principal component analysis(PCA).[Result]Water-fertilization combinations significantly affected all measured plant indices.Among all treatments,the S2F3 combination performed best,with leaf area index,net photosynthetic rate,single fruit weight,and yield reaching 1.86,17.72 μmol/(m2·s),42.49 g,and 2 335.5 kg/hm2,respectively,representing increases of 40.90％,47.79％,17.64％and 113.58％,compared with CK.PCA showed the S2F3 combination had the highest comprehensive score of 2.437.[Conclusion]Our results indicate that applying 360 kg/hm2 of macronutrient water-soluble fertilizer and 1 440 kg/hm2 of organic water-soluble fertilizer with soil moisture maintained above 60％of field capacity is the optimal irrigation-fertilization strategy for dwarf Malus'Jinxiu'production in cold regions of Eastern Inner Mongolia.
Keywords：Malus'Jinxiu'water-fertilizer couplingcomprehensive evaluationphotosynthetic characteristicsyieldfruit quality
Publication Date：2026-05-31
Online Publishing Date：2026-09-12(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：9( 1-9 )