RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TOTAL AND ACTIVE IRON CONTENTS OF LEAVES AND OBSERVED CHLOROSIS IN VINEYARDS IN KONYA-HADMALADA REGION OF TURKEY

Abstract

The relationship between total iron (Fe) and active iron (Fe²⁺) contents of the leaves and visual chlorosis symptoms in the vineyards of the Konya-Hadim-Alada region of Turkey was determined. For this purpose, 13 representative sets of leaf blade and petiole tissues were selected in this region. Thirty-nine leaf samples were collected from “green”, “slightly green”, “medium green”, and “severe” chlorotic vines at fruit set. Based on the leaf blade and petiole analyses, the differences between total Fe contents of leaf blades in “green” leaves and “light”, “medium”, and “severe” chlorosis observed leaves were found statistically insignificant. The lowest total Fe content of petioles was found in the “green” leaves. Also, the differences between active Fe content of petioles in “green” leaves and “medium green” and “severely” chlorotic leaves were found statistically insignificant. On the other hand, active Fe content of leaf blades in “green” leaves and “light green”, “medium green”, and “severely” chlorosis observed leaves was determined as 60.1, 47.6, 17.3, and 8.8 (μg g⁻¹ dry wt.), respectively. The differences between these values were found statistically significant at the p<0.05 level. Also, these results indicated that the active Fe content of leaf blades decreases with increasing level of chlorosis. Therefore, it could be said that the active Fe content of leaf blades is a good indicator for diagnosis of chlorosis and for determining the Fe nutritional status of vineyards, while the total Fe contents of leaf blades and petioles and the active Fe content of petioles could be misleading for this purpose in the Konya-Hadim-Alada vineyards.

Keywords:

• Vineyard
• Chlorosis
• Total Fe
• Active Fe

Acknowledgments