The study of the spatial relationship of some soil properties with the quantitative, qualitative and vegetative properties of Valencia orange in Kazerun, Fars province

Introduction: The spatial variability of soil properties and its importance in production is a matter-of-debate. Insight about the variability of soil properties as well as the yield of orchards is necessary to achieve higher productivity and better management. Orange is one of the most important export products in our country and to sustainable production of this product, it is necessary to identify the factors affecting its growth. This study was performed to examine the statistical and geo-statistical relationship of some soil properties with the quantitative, qualitative and vegetative properties of Valencia orange in Kazerun area, Fars province. Materials and methods: The study area contained 1 hectare (Valencia orange crop) of 205-hectare orchards of Rashnabad on the west of Kazerun, Fars province which is 860 meters above the sea level. 120 soil samples were collected from two depths of 0-40 cm and 40-80 cm (according to the root distribution) in order to investigate the statistical and geo-statistical relationship of some soil properties with the properties of Valencia orange. The sampling in the shade and with a minimum distance of one meter from the trunk of the tested tree was performed (It should be noted that orange trees have been planted as row planting with a distance of 5 meters from each other). In addition to the soil samples were collected for statistical studies from the depths 0-40 and 40-80 cm, the combined sampling of two trees that had less distance to the selected points was performed to measure the performance and quality of orange. It should be noted that all the Valencia trees, their age (about eight years) and management approach were similar. Soil samples were then transferred to the laboratory and air dried, the separately packed and passed through 2 mm sieve.Then, different soil and orange properties including soil texture, pH, EC, %OM, %CaCO3, solution potassium and available phosphorous, iron, zinc and manganese, branch length and branch diameter, trunk perimeter, trunk diameter and tree height, total soluble solids, acid percentage, Vitamin C, number of fruits,orange yield,average fruit weight and average fruit size were determined and the data set were analyzed using Statistica 6.0 software.Variograms of the data were drawn using variowin 2.2 and after determining the best fitted model, kriging maps of soil and fruit were prepared using Surfer9 software. Results and Discussion: The results of correlation coefficient showed the significant and positive relationship between organic matter and available manganese of topsoil with total yield and number of fruits. According to the results of fitness of standard models to the empirical exponent change, all the properties had spatial structure. Soil properties including the percentage of clay, the percentage of organic matter, soluble potassium, phosphorous, available zinc and manganese in both depths in the eastern and south-eastern direction of the study area were higher than that of the others. These maps had the same spatial distribution pattern in terms of orange properties including the diameter and length of the current year branch, performance, number of fruits, average fruit size, acid percentage and total soluble solids. Conclusion: The variability coefficient of soil and fruit properties did not show a consistent trend in the study. According to the correlation coefficients, in a few cases, a positive significance correlation was observed as an example, it can be referred to the positive significant correlation of orange yield with the organic matter and manganese in the depth of 0-40 cm. All the studied variables have spatial structure. Among the studied variables, the percentage of organic matter, clay particles percentage, soluble potassium, phosphorous, and available manganese in both depths showed the same spatial distribution pattern as that of the vegetative, qualitative and yield properties of orange including the total performance, fruit number, fruit size, the diameter and length of the current year branch. The proximity of the ranges of soil and fruit properties supports this result and is in line with the results of correlation coefficient. The results also showed that the spatial distribution and pattern of soil and crop variables may be different in a short distance with the same management. The study of the effect of NPK fertilizers on vegetative, qualitative and quantitative properties of orange in the region orchards is recommended. It is also suggested to study the effect of climatic factors on the orange qualitative properties.