Andivia Muñoz, EnriqueFernández, ManuelVázquez-Piqué, Javier2025-12-122025-12-122013-11-02Andivia, E., Fernández, M., & Vázquez-Piqué, J. (2014). Assessing the effect of late-season fertilization on Holm oak plant quality: insights from morpho–nutritional characterizations and water relations parameters. New Forests, 45, 149–163. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-013-9397-10169-428610.1007/s11056-013-9397-1https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/128877This work was supported by the MEC Spain project ENCINUT AGL2006-12609-CO2-01. E. Andivia received a postdoctoral grant from the program Postdocs in Biological Sciences at MENDELU supported by OP Education for Competitiveness European Social Fund and the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport ref CZ.1.072.3.0030.0017. We thank Felipe Carevic and Rocío Macas for their help in measurement of water relations and morphological parameters. We are also grateful to the associate editor and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions that helped to improve an early version of this manuscript.Forest restoration projects with Holm oak (Quercus ilex) have had limited success, mostly due to water stress after planting and poor plant quality. Recent studies indicated that large and nutrient rich plants perform better in Mediterranean areas, suggesting that late-season fertilization may improve plant quality and field performance. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of late-season fertilization on the quality of Holm oak seedlings, as determined by morphological, nutritional, and water relations analyses. We grew Holm oak nursery seedlings under 5 different late-season fertilization regimes and then analyzed morphological characteristics, nutritional status, and water relations parameters of the fertilization groups at the end of the nursery period. We also analyzed the effect of fertilization on nutritional status by use of vector nomograms. Our results indicated that late-season NPK fertilization improved shoot and root growth, and the overall nutritional status of seedlings. The lack of late-season fertilization leads to nutrient deficiency in plants, whilst the application of imbalanced fertilization treatments may trigger nutrient luxury consumption and nutrient dilution, pointing out the importance of NPK proportions in the fertilizer. Moreover, late-season fertilization with nitrogen might improve the drought resistance of seedling by enhancing their osmotic adjustment.engjournal article1573-5095https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-013-9397-1restricted access631.432630*231.21Autumn fertilizationNutrient loadingNursery cultureQuercus ilexOsmotic adjustmentVector analysisBotánica (Biología)Fisiología vegetal (Biología)Ecología (Biología)Edafología (Biología)2417.17 Nutrición Vegetal2417.19 Fisiología Vegetal2417.13 Ecología Vegetal2417.11 Anatomía Vegetal2417.12 Citología Vegetal