Foliar application of fertilizers and plant growth regulators on pomegranate fruit yield and quality: a review

Production sustainability is affected by climate change and land destruction, which exacerbates the challenge of food security. In addition to ensuring food security, fortification of products is a potential approach to enhance their nutritional quality and safety. Climate change has a significant effect on pre-harvest physiology. Water and soil salinity reduce the yield and quality of products. On the other hand, long-term drought stress reduces the supply of nutrients and cracks the pomegranate fruit. Therefore, it increases susceptibility to fungal diseases, which reduces commercial value. Pre-harvest factors significantly affect post-harvest physiology and quality characteristics related to storage life. Therefore, it is necessary to use efficient and cost-effective strategies to resist environmental stress and enhance yield. Meanwhile, the management of nutrients and plant growth regulators (PGRs) plays an essential role in plant resistance against abiotic stresses and determines their distribution and survival. Therefore, proper management practices are necessary for sustainable production. This paper reviewed and discussed recent advances regarding the foliar application of important nutrients, and PGRs, which increase the yield and quality of pomegranate fruit. In conclusion, foliar application of fertilizers, nanofertilizers, and nanoparticles include Fe, Zn, Ca, K, Br, Se and some PGRs such as salicylic acid and gibberellic acid, and kaolin can be used to increase yield, improve nutritional quality, reduce disorders and also decrease postharvest losses of pomegranate fruit during storage. However, further research in various commercial pomegranate cultivars is necessary to recommend for practical application at harvest and after cold storage of pomegranate fruit.