Impact of Potassium Nutrition on Food Quality of Fruits and Vegetables: A Condensed and Concise Review of the Literature

摘要

Among the many plant mineral nutrients, K stands out as a cation having the strongest influence on quality attributes that determine fruit marketability, consumer preference, and the concentration of critically important human health-associated phytonutrients. However, many plant, soil, and environmental factors often limit uptake of K from the soil in sufficient amounts to satisfy fruit K requirements during development to optimize the aforementioned quality attributes. This was demonstrated in a study reported in this publication in 2007 (Lester et al., 2007) where foliar K markedly improved several cantaloupe fruit quality parameters, despite sufficient soil test K levels. This article expands on the previously reported work from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas by providing a review of published study abstracts on the effects of soil and/or foliar K fertilization on several fruit and vegetable quality characteristics, including phytonutrient concentrations.