Fruit performance of kiwifruit in the loess area of Northwest China

Abstract

Attempts had been made to provide evident insight into the performance of fruit quality and the status of soil property, and explicate the soil property factors that dominantly affect the fruit quality of kiwifruit. Currently, 8-year-old kiwifruit cultivar Hayward, which was grown in Zhouzhi County (108{degrees}37' E, 33{degrees}42'N), Shanxi Province of China, was used as materials. The results of Pearson correlation coefficient illustrated that the soil organic matter (SOM) content was positively related to soil properties except the soil PH. Moreover, based on the canonical correlation analysis (CCA), canonical variables alkaline hydrolyzable-N (AN), available ferrum (AFe), available boron (AB), PH in soil property index and the fresh weight of single fruit (FW), fruit shape index (FI), total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), total soluble sugar (SS) in fruit quality parameter were selected. And the best regression equation (model) indicated that the effects of soil property somewhat varied among Hayward fruit qualities in the loess area of Northwest China. Specifically, FW and SS could be mainly affected by soil AN, and FI affected by soil AB and PH. Fruit SS mostly depended upon soil AFe, whereas TSS was affected by soil AN, AFe and PH. The effect of soil PH on fruit quality is probably achieved, however, affecting the absorption of soil nutrients.