2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Peach is one of the important stone fruits in the southeastern states that has great economic and nutritional values. However, due to peach tree short life (PTSL) syndrome, yield is affected. This research was carried out in a new peach orchard established to study various factors contributing to the PTSL syndrome at the Fort Valley State University farm, located in the Peach County, Georgia. Successful establishment and production potential of peach orchards largely depend on various physio-chemical and biological properties of the soil profile. On the other hand, plant tissue test provides the picture of actual nutritional status of a growing plant including nutrient sufficiency, deficiency and imbalance in the plant. Therefore, we carried out periodic soil and plant tissue testing during the two consecutive years of planting (2015 and 2016) this new peach research orchard. Soil samples were collected from 0-15 cm (Top), 15-30 cm (Middle) and 30-45 cm (Bottom) depths and tested for soil texture, pH, and Mehlich-III extractable calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, manganese, sodium, lead, zinc, copper, nickel, chromium and cadmium. Soil samples were also collected and tested for nematode populations. Leaf tissues were collected from growing trees on the same spot from where those soil samples were collected. Each leaf tissues was tested for total carbon, nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sulfur iron, aluminum, boron, manganese, sodium, zinc, copper, nickel, chromium, molybdenum, cadmium and lead. Soil nematodes population were tested for root-knot nematode, sting, lance, reniform, lesion, stubby-root, ring, stunt, spiral, dagger, sheath, cyst larvae and other nematodes. There was no significant change in soil and plant tissue test results for the periodic sampling done over the two year period of this study.