The effects of different tillage methods on mineral substance of raisins in organic grape growing

Turkey is the major producer and exporter of seedless raisins in the world. The largest area under organic raisin is located in Manisa (2655 ha) then Izmir (580 ha) in the Aegean Region and almost all the grapes are dried and exported to European countries in particular. Organic raisin production constitutes 1.35% of the total raisin production of Turkey. The research was carried out in Alasehir-Yesilyurt Enterprise of Viticulture Research Station from 2006 to 2007. The research was established in a 15 year-old ‘Sultani Cekirdeksiz’ vineyard under irrigable soil conditions in organic parcel. Three different tillage methods: conventional tillage, mulch tillage, and reduced tillage were applied on the trial parcels. The research was carried out as randomized block design trials with three replicates consisting of 12 vines per parcel. Mineral substance analyses of the raisins obtained from the applications were performed using the ICP-AES technique. It was found that there was highest average potassium (K), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) contents of the raisin in mulch tillage; highest average magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P) and sodium (Na) contents of the raisin in conventional tillage; highest average manganese (Mn) and zinc (Zn) contents of the raisin in reduced tillage at 5% significant level.