Hakan Aktaf, Cukrova University, Adana, Turkey

The aim of this mini-review is to describe the specific features of nutrition of vegetable fruits crops. The effects of the development stages, vegetative, flowering, anthesis and fruit development in the life cycle of fruit crops on the demand for nutrients are discussed. The differences in uptake curves of plants which are determinate (single harvest), indeterminate (continuous fruiting) or concentrated fruiting (indeterminate types which have been stopped, practically becoming determinate) are presented. The effects of nutrient mobility in the plants and the resulting ability to redistribute between plant organs are discussed in relation to fertilisation management. Fruit quality and physiological disorders related to mineral supply are presented. Blossom end rot, a specific case of a physiological disorder, which has been investigated by the authors, is described and discussed in more detail.

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Paper presented to The International Fertiliser Society at the 2003 Dahlia Greidinger Symposium in Izmir, Turkey, on 9th December 2003