Abstract
 
Background and Objectives
The objective of this research was to find the relationship between iron and zinc nutrient in flowers at full bloom and the amount of calcium carbonate equivalent in soil and the effectiveness on the leaf parameters {leaf-N, -P, -K, -Mg, Ca, -Fe, -Zn and leaf-B content; leaf area; chlorophyll (SPAD-Value); Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (F0:minimum fluorescence; FM: maximum; fluorescence and value of photochemical capacity of photosystem 2 (FV/FM)}, growth traits (shoot length and diameter of shoot), number of flowers at full bloom/tree, number of fruits/trees and yield of quince cultivars seedlings (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) from Iran.
 
Materials and Methods
The experiment was laid out in a RCBD with split plot arrangement at Kamalabad Research Station in Karaj/Iran.The main plot treatments included calcium carbonate equivalent in soil (13%, 14%, 15%, 16% and 18%) and sub plot included 28 quince cultivars seedlings in Horticulture Research Station of Kamalabad, Karaj during 2016 and 2017. In the present study, a test was carried out using Pearson’s regression and correlation coefficients at P ≤ 0.05 to evaluate the relationships among all studied parameters as well as all 20 parameters with the amount of calcium carbonate equivalent in soil. Cluster analysis (based on Ward’s method) was derived only from traits that were related to the increase of soil lime (zn-, Fe- nutrient in flowers and number of flowers/trees at full bloom, leaf-N content and diameter of shoot). A test for evaluating the relationships between studied parameters by using Pearson’s correlation coefficients at P ≤ 0.05 was the other statistical analysis included in this research
Results
After numerous calculations in this research, in the first step, quince cultivars seedlings of the second group (including, Unknown, NB3, AS2, KVD4, NB2, PK2, ET1, ASM3, ASP1) and for the second step, quince cultivars seedlings of the third group (SVS2, NB4, KVD1, ASM2, Oghafespehan, ASM1) of resistant groups and quince cultivars seedlings of the first group (KVD3, Moghavem2, SVS1, KVD2, PH2, ASP2, Sahelborjmoghavem, Moghavem1, SHA1, Gardandar, KM1, Khosro, Behtorsh(of dendrograms of sensitive to high amounts of calcium carbonate equivalent to soil (14-18 %) were evaluated.
Discussion
Soils are called calcareous with more than 10% calcium carbonate (Henin, 1977). However, the amount of lime for more than 60% of Iranian soils is variable in a range between 10 to 44% (Anonymus, 1991). Lime-induced iron chlorosis is the most important problem of the quince production in Iran. One of the best alternatives to prevent lime-induced iron chlorosis problems is the use of tolerant plant species or genotypes. Our hypothesis in this study was that flowering indices were highly efficient for estimating the resistance of fruit trees to soil lime, which has also been confirmed by many researchers )Sanz et al., 1993 and 1995 and Adane, 2015). The results of this two-year study were in agreement with the results of the mentioned researchers: the flower indices have the potential to be used for evaluating the tolerance of selected quince genotypes when grown in different soil lime levels