RESEARCH REGARDING THE ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY OF THE TECHNOLOGIES APPLIED TO AN APPLE ORCHARD IN NORTH-EASTERN BUCHAREST

In the Bucharest area, the steady increase in fresh fruit demand and the need to increase the profitability of agricultural fields resulted in setting up a fruit tree plantation at the Moara Domneasca Teaching Farm. The main goal of any farmer is to obtain high quality yields to meet the market requirements, but there are also sustainability issues provided by yield levels and the ability to back up expenses. Given the need for high and steady yields while reducing pollution extent, fertilizers and pesticides inputs, the economic efficiency and the output maximization can be achieved only through the optimization of fertilizer and herbicide inputs. The present paper aims to analyse economic efficiency for the applied technologies so as to determine the best fertilization and weed control solution in an apple orchard in the pedoclimatic conditions of Moara Domneasca. Following the performed research, there was observed that the yields varied greatly between 8.3 t/ha and 18.1 t/ha according to the fertilizer and herbicide treatments. The production expenses varied between 4200 lei/ha for the unfertilized and unherbicided treatments and had a maximum level of 6900 lei/ha. Regarding economic efficiency, the best results were obtained in the treatments where weed control was performed through two herbicide applications, and fertilization was performed both on soil and leaves.