Leaf and Fruit Nutrient Status of Organically and Conventionally Grown 'Ayvalik' Oil Olive Orchards in Turkey and Their Oil Quality Parameters

Olive's (Olea europaea L.) native land is claimed to be Hatay-Maras-Mardin located in Turkey, while it is produced broadly on Aegean and Mediterranean coasts thus having a significant economic importance for the Mediterranean countries. The cultivar 'Ayvalik' has a superior oil quality and also is used for table olive in the form of green pickled olive. It has been widely preferred on the western coast of Turkey. Especially at the orchard establishments, this cultivar is on the rise and also spreads to the other areas. The experimental area of this study is situated at the northern part of Ayvalik, Edremit Gulf of Turkey. The aim of the study is to determine leaf and fruit macro-nutrient element status, some quality parameters of olive oil and the relation between these parameters at organic and conventional plantations. This paper submits first experimental year data. Results show that, leaf nutrient elements have shown nearly the same distribution compared to the reference values of both the organic and conventional practices except K; since, N, Ca and partly Mg were inadequate, P was adequate. Leaf K was generally adequate in all of the experimental area; however, some of the conventional orchards were higher and some of the inorganic orchards were inadequate levels. Leaf N, P, K, Ca and fruit P, K contents were significantly affected by two of the growing methods. Furthermore, obtained data showed some significant relations between each other.