Articles
Persimmon foliar nutrient content and incidence of kaki sudden death syndrome on a South Carolina Piedmont soil
Article number
1432_27
Pages
193 – 198
Language
English
Abstract
Oriental or Asian persimmon (Diospyros kaki L. f.) aka kaki persimmon is highly productive when grown in warm temperate regions of the United States.
With growing interest in sustainable farming practices, reduced chemical inputs and healthy eating trends, kaki persimmons can be grown organically or with few pesticides and are gaining culinary acceptance by American consumers.
Attempts to grow kakis commercially in the southeastern United States were initially promising but as orchards aged, trees often died suddenly in the spring.
This unknown phenomenon was later coined the kaki sudden death syndrome (aka KSD). Observations hinted that low soil pH might be associated with KSD and metal ion accumulation in D. kaki. The objective was to evaluate commercial kaki cultivars for adaptability to the South Carolina Piedmont region and to determine what predisposes them to the KSD syndrome.
Kaki cultivars grafted to D. virginiana rootstock were planted in both winter 1995-96 and 1996-97 on deforested, reclaimed agriculture land.
In May 2001, 2002, and 2003, treatments of either 2.24 t ha‑1 dolomitic lime broadcast in-row plus hand applied 0.9 kg CaNO3 per tree or no added lime and 0.9 kg of NH3SO4 hand applied per tree.
Tree survival, fruit yield, and soil and foliar nutrient data were collected.
Non-astringent cultivars were the most productive, whereas astringent types had low yields.
Tree death from KSD was twice as high (percentage wise) in the non-lime treated trees.
Soil analyses showed differences with higher pH, calcium and magnesium values in the lime treatment but not for the other macro- and micronutrients.
However, the only notable foliar nutrient differences from 2001 through 2005 were for manganese and zinc, whose ppm concentrations ranged from 2.1 to 4.0 and 1.4 to 1.8 times higher, respectively for the non-lime treated trees.
The data suggested an association of high foliar manganese with tree susceptibility to KSD.
With growing interest in sustainable farming practices, reduced chemical inputs and healthy eating trends, kaki persimmons can be grown organically or with few pesticides and are gaining culinary acceptance by American consumers.
Attempts to grow kakis commercially in the southeastern United States were initially promising but as orchards aged, trees often died suddenly in the spring.
This unknown phenomenon was later coined the kaki sudden death syndrome (aka KSD). Observations hinted that low soil pH might be associated with KSD and metal ion accumulation in D. kaki. The objective was to evaluate commercial kaki cultivars for adaptability to the South Carolina Piedmont region and to determine what predisposes them to the KSD syndrome.
Kaki cultivars grafted to D. virginiana rootstock were planted in both winter 1995-96 and 1996-97 on deforested, reclaimed agriculture land.
In May 2001, 2002, and 2003, treatments of either 2.24 t ha‑1 dolomitic lime broadcast in-row plus hand applied 0.9 kg CaNO3 per tree or no added lime and 0.9 kg of NH3SO4 hand applied per tree.
Tree survival, fruit yield, and soil and foliar nutrient data were collected.
Non-astringent cultivars were the most productive, whereas astringent types had low yields.
Tree death from KSD was twice as high (percentage wise) in the non-lime treated trees.
Soil analyses showed differences with higher pH, calcium and magnesium values in the lime treatment but not for the other macro- and micronutrients.
However, the only notable foliar nutrient differences from 2001 through 2005 were for manganese and zinc, whose ppm concentrations ranged from 2.1 to 4.0 and 1.4 to 1.8 times higher, respectively for the non-lime treated trees.
The data suggested an association of high foliar manganese with tree susceptibility to KSD.
Authors
G.L. Reighard, D.R. Ouellette
Keywords
Diospyros kaki, Diospyros virginiana, KSD, manganese, zinc, Xylella fastidiosa
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