Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(2): 1152-1157 1152 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2019.802.134 Seasonal Variation in Leaf Mineral Nutrient and Optimization of Sampling Dates for Better Indexing of Pear Leaf A. Raouf Malik 1* , M. Feza Ahmad 2 , M. A. Ganie 1 , S.A. Bangroo 1 , Nawsheen Nazir 1 , Aroosa Khalil 1 and R.H.S. Raja 3 Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Shalimar, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir 191 121, India 2 Bihar Agricultural University Sobour Baghalpur 813210, India 3 Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture Srinagar J&K, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Pear (Pyrus communis L) is one of the most important fruit crops of the world in India pear is being mostly produced in J&K and Himachal Pradesh , Foliar analysis has been widely accepted as a valuable guide to determine the fertility status in fruit plants. Composition of nutrient in the leaf after six months of planting indirectly reflects on the growth, development and yield (Kumbargiri et al., 2016). Considerable work done on various fruit crops suggest that best time for collecting leaf samples is a relative stable period of a few weeks or months when mineral shifts are at minimum (Mason,1958). Several factors, namely, leaf age, position, climate, cultivar season etc, influenced nutrient concentration in leaf (Robinson, 1981). Although, J & K is one of the important pear producing states in India, yet a standard sampling time has not been developed for the leaf analysis. Thus being a commercially important fruit crop of J International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 02 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The present investigation aimed at evaluating the seasonality of macro-nutrients contents of pear trees during the agriculture year 2007. Therefore, leaf samples were collected at fortnightly intervals form 1 st may to 1 st October and evaluated for nutrients. In general concentration of N, P,K decreased and those of Ca, Mg, Fe, and Mn content increased from first to last sampling date while as no conspicuous trend was observed in Cu content of leaves. The distinct period of stability for N, Mg, Mn and Zn contents occurred from July 15- August 15. However, P content of leaves showed least variation from July 1 to august 1. While stability period for leaf Ca was recorded from August 1 to September 1. While Cu and B were found to be stable from June 1-July 15. It is as such suggested that the leaves should be sampled form middle portion of current season growth from periphery during most stable periods of a particular nutrient for its proper diagnosis. However in general, July to August is the most representative period for diagnosis of leaf nutrient content in the leaves. Keywords Pear, seasonal variation, Leaf index tissue, Sampling Date, Nutrient Accepted: 10 January 2019 Available Online: 10 February 2019 Article Info