Abstract
A field trial has been conducted on 5-year-old Sweet Lady and Royal Glory peach cultivars on a sandy loam soil at Siófok, West Hungary, since 2009. Four in-row ground management systems (pine bark mulch, cow manure, black fabric cover, and no cover with herbicide applications) were evaluated in a plot design with three replicates to study their effects on the soil temperature and nutrient contents of leaves. The fluctuation of soil temperature was more moderate with mulch and manure as groundcover. Leaf nitrogen (N), potassium (K), and calcium (Ca) concentrations increased but leaf magnesium (Mg) and zinc (Zn) decreased because of the treatments. Leaf manganese (Mn) and copper (Cu) content were slightly affected by the treatments and the changing was not significant at some treatments. Overall, our results suggest that leaf nutrient concentrations respond differentially to different mulches.
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Acknowledgments
We acknowledge OM-00042/2008, OM-00265/2008, and OM-00270/2008 projects for financial assistance.