Arrobas, MargaridaRaimundo, SoraiaConceição, NunoMoutinho-Pereira, JoséCorreia, Carlos M.Rodrigues, M.A.2024-01-242024-01-242023Arrobas, Margarida; Raimundo, Soraia; Conceição, Nuno; Moutinho-Pereira, José; Correia, Carlos M.; Rodrigues, Manuel Angelo (2023). On sandy, boron-poor soils, liming induced severe boron deficiency and drastically reduced the dry matter yield of young olive trees. Plants. eISSN 2223-7747. 12:24, p. 1-18http://hdl.handle.net/10198/29356In the northeast of Portugal, like in many parts of the world, most soils are acidic, which may hamper crop productivity. This study presents the findings of a factorial experiment on olive (Olea europaea L.) involving three factors: (i) soil type [schist (Sch) and granite (Gra)]; (ii) cultivars [Cobrançosa (Cob) and Arbequina (Arb)]; and (iii) fertilizer treatments [liming (CaCO3) plus magnesium (Mg) (LMg), phosphorus (P) application (+P), boron (B) application (+B), all fertilizing materials combined (Con+), and an untreated control (Con-)]. Dry matter yield (DMY) did not show significant differences between cultivars, but plants grown in schist soil exhibited significantly higher biomass compared to those in granite soil. Among the treatments, +B and Con+ resulted in the highest DMY (50.8 and 47.2 g pot−1, respectively), followed by +P (34.3 g pot−1) and Con- (28.6 g pot−1). Treatment LMg yielded significantly lower values (15.6 g pot−1) than Con-. LMg raised the pH above 7 (7.36), leading to a severe B deficiency. Although Con+ also raised the pH above 7 (7.48), it ranked among the most productive treatments for providing B. Therefore, when applying lime to B-poor sandy soils, moderate rates are advised to avoid inducing a B deficiency. Additionally, it seems prudent to apply B after lime application.engSoil acidityOlea europaeaOlive cultivarsSchist soilGranite soilPhosphorus fertilizationjournal article10.3390/plants122441612223-7747