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EFFECTS OF GREEN MANURES ON SOLUBLE SOLID CONTENT, YIELD AND

TREE GROWTH OF SWEET CHERRY

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© by PSP Volume 31– No. 04/2022 pages 3995-4001
EFFECTS OF GREEN MANURES ON SOLUBLE SOLID
CONTENT, YIELD AND TREE GROWTH OF
SWEET CHERRY
Ertugrul Balekoglu1,*, Behcet Kir2
1
Ege University, Bayindir Vocational School, Izmir, Turkey
2
Ege University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Field Crops, Izmir, Turkey
ABSTRACT
In this study, three green manure crops (Vicia
faba L., Vicia sativa L. and Lolium multiflorum
Lam.) were grown in the drive rows of a cherry or-
chard (Prunus avium L.) in order to compare their
conventional production system and bare control.
The objectives of this experiment were included to
observe growth, development and yield characteris-
tics of cherry trees as well as certain information in
which could be beneficial for producers. The final
outcome reveals that conventional practice provided
the highest yield and shoot diameter, along faba bean
which showed the highest trunk diameter growth
among two other crops. Also there was no significant
difference in soluble solid content observed. Faba
bean and common vetch showed higher values of re-
sults in all characteristics through the conventional
practice. The results also indicated that ryegrass and
control showed the lowest yield, shoot length and
shoot diameter.
KEYWORDS:
Green manure, cherry trees, sustainable agriculture
INTRODUCTION
Different types of soil management practices
can be applied in today's orchards. Cultivation and
herbicide use are the most preferred methods for
weed control. Various green manure crops are grown
between tree rows to conserve soil fertility and re-
duce erosion. In recent years, trials have been made
with mixtures of grasses and legumes or legumes
only [1–3].
Soil management varies in terms of applicabil-
ity, advantages and disadvantages. For example,
herbicides and tillage techniques, which are often
preferred because of their cheapness and easiness,
increase the risk of chemical pollution and erosion
and thus decrease soil fertility. In green manure ap-
plications, on the other hand, soil fertility improves,
some nutrients needed by the trees are obtained
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Fresenius Environmental Bulletin
through these plants, but tree-plant competition and
costs may increase [4–7].
Turkey ranks first in the world in terms of
cherry production area and production quantity. In
2019, the total cherry production was recorded by
664 thousand tons over approximately 83 thousand
hectares of land. Turkey's cherry ranks 13th for yield
with 79,598 kg/ha, and fifth for exports after Chile,
China, Hong Kong and the USA [8].
Cherry trees can show the desired development
in well-drained soils with high water holding capac-
ity. Legume forage crops can be grown in cherry or-
chards for obtaining forage or green manure in the
dormant periods of autumn, winter and early spring.
Growing legume forage crops can provide additional
income for businesses by reducing the use of com-
mercial fertilizers. It can also contribute to better de-
velopment of trees and production of higher quality
cherries.
Forage crops are considered among indispensa-
ble elements of sustainable agriculture in green ma-
nure applications because they improve physical and
biological properties of soil [9]. Within the scope of
this study, our hypothesis was focusing on Faba
Bean, Common Vetch and Annual Ryegrass crops
grown in the drive rows of a cherry orchard. It is also
aimed to observe some growth, development and
yield characteristics of cherry trees and thus reveal
information that may be beneficial to producers.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study was conducted in the years of 2017
- 2019 in a cherry orchard in Karaahmetli Village,
which is located approximately 4 km south-west of
downtown Karamürsel district Kocaeli province
(40°39'36.9"N 29°34'27.3"E). The experimental
plots were established in an 8-year-old sweet cherry
(Prunus avium 'Regina') orchard grafted on maxma
rootstock, planted at 5m x 3m intervals. The soil type
of the orchard is sandy clay loam with 57.8% sand,
17.1% silt and 25.1% clay.
© by PSP Volume 31– No. 04/2022 pages 3995-4001 Fresenius Environmental Bulletin

TABLE 1
Monthly temperature and precipitation data of the experiment site.
2017 2018 2019
Temperature Precipitation Tempera- Precipitation Tempera- Precipitation
o
C mm ture oC mm ture oC mm
January 6.2 100.9 5.6 60.1 5.2 79.4
February 8.5 20.5 7.0 69.1 5.3 75.6
March 10.3 59.1 10.5 85.6 8.0 18.3
April 13.9 50.8 14.5 12 11.2 51.1
May 18.3 57.3 17.8 194.8 18.3 30.1
June 22.5 105.6 21.6 10.9 22.3 30.5
July 24.5 42.5 23.7 78.7 22.1 50.3
August 24.9 48.2 24.0 0.4 22.6 92.2
September 21.7 11.6 19.4 61.5 18.8 18.8
October 16.5 103.2 15.1 54.8 15.6 41.2
November 8.7 46.6 10.7 84.1 12.8 42.3
December 9.9 125 5.3 232.9 7.5 95.4

The altitude of the study area is 400 meters. A
Black Sea-Mediterranean transitional macroclimate
dominates the region. Number of precipitation days
is 117, the annual mean precipitation is 669mm, and
the annual mean temperature is 15.1°C. The temper-
ature and precipitation data of the study area are
given in Table 1.
The experiment was arranged in a randomized
block design with 3 replications. In the experiment,
the faba bean (FB) (Vicia faba ‘Ata 34’), common
vetch (CV) (Vicia sativa) and annual ryegrass (AR)
(Lolium multiflorum ‘Baqueano’) green manure
crops (GM), the conventional cherry production car-
ried out by association of the local farmers (CONV)
and the control (CON) (no fertilization) were taken
as the first factor, while the second factor comprised
two different burial methods (BM) including: (i)
Mixing only the stubble parts of the plants used as a
forage and (ii) concealing the entire plants as green
manuring in the soil.
The experimental units were designed upon
plots dimensions with 6 m x 2 m = 12 m2, each plot
included 2 cherry trees (the target green manure
crops planted on both sides of the trees). Eventually,
total of 40 plots were accomplished for this experi-
ment. Additionally, morphological measurements
were performed on total of 60 cherry trees in these
plots. The plots were planted on 9 November 2017
and 13 November 2018. For FB, CV and AR,
20kg/da, 10kg/da and 3kg/da of seeds were used, re-
spectively. The spacing between the drill rows was
20cm for CV and AR, where 40 cm for FB. Since
legume crops are found in the natural vegetation of
the region where this experiment was ongoing, no
bacteria inoculation was needed to be applied to the
seeds. During planting, 10 kg/da of triple super phos-
phate fertilizer was applied to the tree drive rows.
The irrigation, pruning and pest control were main-
tained based on annually and actual application for
the orchard.
The harvesting and burying the GMs was deter-
mined not by development of the crops but by the
development stage of the cherry trees [10]. At the be-
ginning of the blooming period and during the bud
burst period of the cherry trees on 4 April 2018 and
9 April 2019, the plots where only the stubble parts
of the plants being buried, harvested with a hand
sickle and removed out of the orchard. Alongside
with it, plots with the remaining stubble parts and re-
maining plots with entire plants, buried in the soil as
green manure. This was approached by crushing it
with a disc harrow and buried in the soil.
The soluble solid content (SSC, % Brix) was
measured with an ATC hand refractometer before
the harvesting of cherry trees. Cherry yield was cal-
culated by taking the mean of two trees in each ex-
perimental plot during the harvest period. After the
vegetative stages development completed in the trees
the shoot length (cm) and shoot diameter (mm) were
measured with a calliper ruler. Trunk diameter (cm)
was measured before and after the experiment, and
the difference between the two measurements was
calculated.
All data analysed statistically by using TO-
TEMSTAT Statistical program [11] and significant
means were compared by the LSD test at 5% proba-
bility level as described by Steel and Torrie [12].
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Soluble Solid Content (SSC). According to
the analysis results obtained (Table 2), GM had sig-
nificant effects on SSC in the second year. CON
(17.70%) and CONV (17.27%) produced the highest
SSC. CV showed the lowest SSC with 16.39%.
There was no statistically significant difference in
SSC in the first year and in the mean of two years.
It is known that excess nitrogen in the soil in-
creases vegetative development in trees and causes

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ripening to be delayed and thus the sugar ratio to de-
crease [10]. In a similar experiment conducted in an
apple orchard, it was concluded that Red Clover re-
duced SSC because it delayed fruit ripening [13]. In
their chemical and organic fertilizer experiment on
apples, Zhao et al. [14] reported that they obtained
the highest SSC from the plots where chemical ferti-
lizers were used and added that potassium could pos-
itively affect fruit quality and sugar ratio. The results
obtained in our study are similar to those obtained in
previous studies, and there are also parallels with the
results of Roussos and Gasparatos [15] and Karadağ
et al. [16].
Cherry Yield. The analysis results showed that
BM and GM in the first year and only GM in the sec-
ond year had significant effects on the yield. In both
years, the yield was highest (81.83 and 73.17 kg) for
CONV. At the end of the first year, the lowest yield
(49 kg) was obtained from the CON. As for BMs, the
yield was higher in the plots where the plants had
been buried entirely. In the second year, CV (71.75
kg) and CONV (73.17 kg) were in the same group
and had statistically higher yields than the remaining
crops and the control.
The GM and GM x BM interaction had signifi-
cant effects on the mean of two years. CONV (77.50
kg) took the first place, and the least yield was ob-
tained from AR (51.8 kg) and CON (47.75 kg). As
for interactions, the highest cherry yield was ob-
tained CONV with 87.67 kg in the plots where the
plants had been buried entirely. The lowest yield was
obtained from CON (45.33 kg) with the same burial
method.
A study that was similar to our experiment re-
ported that the highest corn and sunflower yields
were obtained from the plots where the V. narbonen-
sis and V. sativa forage crops had been buried en-
tirely and that this was equivalent to 10 and 20kg ni-
trogen fertilizer. It’s also reported that the yield
where only the stubble part had been buried was
higher than the control plots [17]. In their study
Demir and Doğan [18] concluded that green manure
crops increased yield in a kiwi orchard compared to
Control. While the findings of our study overlap with
these and other studies [5,10,19,20], they conflict
with some other research findings [13,21,7,22]. The
reason for this may be the fact that the weight of the
total fruit amount in the tree instead of the number of
fruits and unit fruit weight was taken as the indicator
for cherry yield in our study. Besides, there are too
many climatic factors that affect yield in fruit trees,
and even short-term changes in vegetative and gen-
erative development periods can significantly affect
fruit yield. These changes can occur more especially
in sustainable agricultural practices. As can also be
seen in the findings obtained in this study, it is an
expected result that the yield per tree in sustainable
agriculture practices will decrease in the first years.
The yield gap is expected to close after a few years.
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Fresenius Environmental Bulletin
Atucha et al. [23] reported that as a result of green
manures preventing erosion and improving soil fer-
tility, trees can compensate for the competition with
green manure plants and even more yield can be ob-
tained compared to conventional practice in the long
term.
Shoot Length. According to the analysis re-
sults, the highest shoot length (44.78 cm) was ob-
tained from CONV. CV (38.76 cm) and FB (36.55
cm) at the end of the first year. It is ranked as second
where they are not statistically different from
CONV. In the first year, AR (29.17cm) and CON
(26.60 cm) showed lowest. In the second year, BMs
or GMs did not affect shoot length.
Considering the mean values of two years,
GMs and interactions had significant effects on plant
shoot length. Therefore, the highest mean shoot
lengths were measured in CONV (34.70 cm), FB
(30.88cm) and CV (29.77cm). AR (23.92cm) and
CON (22.87cm) were in the second statistical group.
In numerical terms, the highest shoot length
(36.97cm) was obtained from CONV in where only
the stubble parts of the plants had been buried. The
lowest shoot length (22.33 cm) was measured in
CON where entire plants had been buried.
Researchers have investigated the effects of
various applications on shoot length. In an experi-
ment conducted on 2 different apple varieties, it was
observed that organic fertilizers and composts in-
creased the shoot length compared to control plots
[24]. Another experiment was made with two differ-
ent cherry varieties, and it was observed that the har-
lequin marigold plant, which was used as cover crop
among various soil management types, reduced tree
growth in Karesova cherry variety, while other
mulching methods produced longer shoot lengths
compared to the clean cultivation method. As for the
Burlat cherry variety, there was no difference in
shoot length in any application [25]. Although green
manure, organic fertilizer and mulch applications
yielded different results in the mentioned studies,
generally positive results were obtained compared to
the control. Our study also produced similar results.
The control plot gave the lowest results compared to
all green manure crops except for AR. This may be
attributed to the fact that AR does not perform bio-
logical nitrogen fixation. The plant only absorbs the
nutrients left in the soil and recycles them into the
soil [26]. In this respect, the results came out as ex-
pected.
Shoot Diameter. The statistical results of the
first year showed that the GMs had significant ef-
fects on shoot diameter. The highest shoot diameter
(8.06mm) was in CONV, while the lowest (6.78mm)
was observed in CON. In the second year too,
CONV (7.23mm) took place in the first statistical
group, while there was no statistical difference be-
tween all other crop varieties and CON, and they
 © by PSP Volume 31– No. 04/2022 pages 3995-4001 Fresenius Environmental Bulletin

TABLE 2
LSD post hoc test results of green manures (GM) as control (CON), conventional (CONV), common vetch
(CV), faba bean (FB) and annual ryegrass (AR) and burial methods (BM) as stubbles and entire plants.
2017-2018 2018-2019 Mean
Stubbles
Entire Mean Stubbles Entire Mean Stubbles Entire Mean
Plant Plant Plant
CON 18.24 17.50 17.88 17.79 17.61 17.70 a 18.02 17.56 17.79
Shoot Length (cm) Cherry Yield (kg) Soluble Solid Con-

CONV 16.55 16.56 16.56 17.24 17.29 17.27 a 16.90 16.92 16.91
tent (oBrix)

CV 17.08 16.78 16.93 16.18 16.59 16.39 b 16.80 16.68 16.74

FB 16.33 17.23 16.78 17.30 16.59 16.95 ab 16.82 16.91 16.86
AR 17.57 16.73 17.15 17.80 16.48 17.14 ab 17.68 16.61 17.15
Mean 17.16 16.96 17.26 16.91 17.25 16.94
P < 0.05 BM: ns GM: ns BMxGM: ns BM: ns GM: 0.83 BMxGM: ns BM: ns GM: ns BMxGM: ns
CON 49.67 48.33 49.00 d 50.67 42.33 46.50 b 50.17 bA 45.33 dA 47.75 c
CONV 66.00 97.67 81.83 a 68.67 77.67 73.17 a 67.33 aB 87.67 aA 77.50 a
CV 58.00 71.33 64.67 bc 72.50 71.00 71.75 a 65.27 aA 71.17 bA 68.21 b
FB 79.33 72.33 75.83 ab 52.50 50.67 51.58 b 65.93 aA 61.50 bcA 63.71 b
AR 49.30 58.67 54.00 cd 51.50 47.33 49.42 b 53.77 bA 53.00 cdA 51.71 c
Mean 60.47 B 69.67A 59.17 57.80 59.82 63.73
P < 0.05 BM: 8.6 GM: 13.6 BMxGM: ns BM: ns GM: 9.33 BMxGM: ns BM: ns GM: 6.98 BMxGM: 9.86
CON 26.33 26.87 26.60 c 20.47 17.73 19.10 23.40 bA 22.33 bA 22.87 b
CONV 29.37 40.20 44.78 a 24.53 24.67 24.60 36.97 aA 32.43 aA 34.70 a
CV 29.97 47.57 38.76 ab 17.17 23.97 20.78 23.77 bB 35.77 aA 29.77 a
FB 30.77 42.33 36.55 ab 24.63 25.73 25.18 27.70 bA 34.07 aA 30.88 a
AR 27.80 30.53 29.17 c 17.73 19.63 18.68 22.77 bA 25.07 bA 23.92 b
Mean 32.85 37.50 20.99 22.34 26.92 29.93
P < 0.05 BM: ns GM: 9.76 BMxGM: ns BM: ns GM: ns BMxGM: ns BM: ns GM: 5.15 BMxGM: 7.28
CON 6.74 6.83 6.78 d 6.84 abA 6.30 bB 6.57 b 6.79 6.56 6.68 d
Shoot Diameter

CONV 8.13 7.99 8.06 a 7.31 aA 7.16 aA 7.23 a 7.18 7.58 7.65 a
CV 7.32 7.73 7.53 bc 6.57 bcA 6.93 aA 6.75 b 6.95 7.33 7.14 bc
(mm)

FB 7.88 7.91 7.90 ab 6.55 bcB 7.13 aA 6.84 b 7.21 7.52 7.37 ab
AR 7.33 7.11 7.22 cd 6.17 cB 6.98 aA 6.58 b 6.75 7.04 6.90 cd
Mean 7.48 7.52 6.69 6.90 7.08 7.21
P < 0.05 BM: ns GM: 0.52 BMxGM: ns BM: ns GM:0.38 BMxGM: 0.53 BM: ns GM: 0.38 BMxGM: ns
CON 0.52 0.36 0.44 b 0.50 0.76 0.63 0.51 0.56 0.54 c
Trunk Diameter

CONV 1.02 0.78 0.90 a 0.86 0.94 0.90 0.94 0.86 0.90 ab
Growth (cm)

CV 0.80 0.56 0.68 ab 0.97 0.98 0.98 0.89 0.77 0.83 b

FB 0.94 0.97 0.95 a 0.89 1.31 1.10 0.91 1.14 1.03 a
AR 0.76 0.93 0.85 a 0.72 0.97 0.85 0.74 0.95 0.85 b
Mean 0.81 A 0.72 A 0.79 0.99 0.80 0.86
P < 0.05 BM: ns GM: 0.31 BMxGM: ns BM: ns GM: ns BMxGM: ns BM: ns GM: 0.18 BMxGM: ns
*Different lowercase letters in columns indicate significant differences between green manures at the 0.05 level (LSD). *Dif-
ferent uppercase letters in rows indicate significant differences between burial methods at the 0.05 level (LSD).
* ns: not significant.

took the second place. Similar results were obtained
in the mean of two years. CONV took the first place
with 7.65mm, while the CON had the smallest shoot
diameter with 6.68mm.
Billig [27] concluded in her study that green
manure mulches have significant effects on shoot di-
ameter in young apple trees. There are also studies in
which green manure fertilizers used together with
other organic fertilizers produced positive tree
growth results [28]. Organic fertilizers change the
physical, chemical and biological structure of the
soil by increasing organic matter in the soil. As a re-
sult, they improve fertility [29,30]. However, Mi-
khael and Aziz [31] stated that tree growth will not
be at the desired level when only organic fertilizers
are used. They attributed this to the fact that nutrients
in organic fertilizers alone are insufficient. In our ex-
periment, green manuring did not increase shoot di-
ameter as much as conventional practices and it was
found to be similar to the findings of other research-
ers.
Trunk Diameter Growth. Trunk diameter
analysis results showed that only the GM had a sig-
nificant effect in the first year. The highest growth in
trunk diameter was achieved by FB (0.95cm), fol-
lowed by CONV (0.90cm) and AR (0.85cm). CV
(0.68cm) was not statistically different from these
three applications and was included in the interme-
diate group. CON resulted in the least increase
(0.44cm) in trunk diameter. In the second year, BM
or GM did not have any effect on trunk diameter.
In the mean of the two years, effects similar to
the results found in the first year were observed. FB
(1.03cm) ranked first in trunk diameter growth.
CONV (0.90cm) did not significantly differ from FB
and stayed slightly behind. CON (0.54cm) was again
in the last place.

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© by PSP Volume 31– No. 04/2022 pages 3995-4001
The nitrogen that legume green manure crops
add to the soil by biological nitrogen fixation posi-
tively affects tree growth. There are studies which
show that green manures cause tree trunk diameter
to grow more compared to the control [3,32]. The re-
searchers in those studies also added that even if
green manuring is carried out continuously, addi-
tional fertilization is needed in an orchard. Findings
similar to the results of our study have been obtained
in some studies comparing conventional practice
with green manures [7,33].
CONCLUSION
In this study, differences were observed be-
tween GMs in terms of the characteristics of shoot
length, shoot diameter and trunk diameter growth,
but there was no difference between BMs. This may
have happened due to the fact that the amount of ni-
trogen in the plant rhizosphere. It affected tree
growth positively. The amount of nitrogen in the be-
lowground parts of the plants was 41% for forage
legume varieties and 26% for edible grain legume
varieties [34]. It can also be suggested that 5 to 10
cm high stubble parts of the harvested plants also
contribute to soil nutrients.
While annual crops are used as green manures
in orchards, a very cold winter season may cause in-
sufficient amount of dry matter to be produced in the
early spring period, leading to a significant lack of
nitrogen fixation for trees. It is not known how the
long-term use of green manures will affect yield and
growth data of cherry trees, and it is important to
conduct studies on this topic in the future. Addition-
ally, fruit diameter and weight are one of the most
important criteria for cherry fruit. Generally, a
weight of 11-12 grams and a diameter of 29-30 mm
are the optimum values for the international market
[35]. Researchers should take this into account re-
garding cherries. Sustainable farming opportunities
for cherry production which is carried out in large
areas around the world, should be examined further.
In the experiment, a slight decline was ob-
served in the growth and yield of trees treated with
green manure compared to conventional practice.
This situation is normal in terms of sustainable agri-
culture practices. Therefore, using common vetch
and faba bean as green manure crops or as forage
crops in orchards drive rows can be recommended.
Besides, an economic analysis can be made about
utilizing these plants as forage crops to provide ad-
ditional income for the business.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The current study contains part of data from the
Ph.D. thesis study carried out by Ertuğrul Balekoğlu
under the consultancy of Prof. Dr. Behçet KIR in the
3999
Fresenius Environmental Bulletin
Graduate School of Natural and Applied Science,
Faculty of Agriculture, Ege University. The authors
are grateful to the Scientific Research Projects Coor-
dination of Ege University for financial support. Re-
search study: FDK-2019-20506
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Received: 09.08.2021
Accepted: 13.12.2021

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR

Ertugrul Balekoglu
Ege University,
Bayindir Vocational School,
Izmir – Turkey

e-mail: ertugrul.balekoglu@ege.edu.tr

4001

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