Response of Growth, Flowering and Fruiting of Florida Prince Peach Trees to Spraying with Nanochitosan and Nanosilicon

Abstract

This study was carried out in the two seasons of 2017 and 2018 on five-year-old peach Florida prince cv. trees grown in sandy silt soil at 3×5 m apart under drip irrigation system of a private peach orchard located at Sharkia Governorate, Egypt. The trees were sprayed with nano-chitosan at 10, 20, 30 and 40 ppm, nano-silicon at 200, 400 and 600 ppm and potassium silicate at 1000, 2000 and 3000 ppm as well as water (control treatment). The results showed that the highest yield / tree, number of harvested fruits / tree and fruit weight for trees treated with nano-chitosan at 10 and 20 ppm in comparison with those sprayed with water and other treatments. Trees were sprayed by nano-silicon at all rates gained the greatest number of flowers/ branch, flower density and fruit set percentage. The trees sprayed with nanosilicin at 600 ppm recorded longest shoot length, largest shoot diameter and highest leaves number/ shoot, while, least values of them were from unsprayed trees (control). The largest leaf area was recorded for trees were sprayed with nano-silicon at 200 ppm, 400 ppm and 600 ppm without significant differences between them.