Chlorine nutrition of coconut from nursery to full-bearing stage
1989
Magat, S.S. | Margate, R.Z. (Philippine Coconut Authority, Davao City (Philippines). Davao Research Center)
A study designed to determine the nutritional needs and critical leaf nutrients concentrations of coconut from nursery to full-bearing was conducted from 1974 to 1988 in a Cl-deficient soil (Typic Tropudalf) of Davao, Southern Philippines. In the nursery stage, only chlorine application improved the growth of the seedlings based on girth size which was highly correlated with increased leaf Cl. During the first five years in the field, K and Cl significantly influenced the growth of the palms which was positively correlated to all growth parameters i.e. girth, number of leaflets, living fronds and leaf production. During the 5th year Cl-fertilization resulted in 115% more flowering palms than the unfertilized ones. From then on, Cl application consistently increased nut production, copra weight per nut and copra yield per tree which were correlated with leaf Cl. However, the positive effects of other nutrients like N, K and Mg on yield as well as interaction effects were inconsistent over the years. Based on the relationship between leaf nutrient levels with growth and yield of coconuts, the leaf Cl critical levels for the different leaf positions (Ranks) and growth stages are: at nursery stage (leaf 3) = 0.70% Cl; pre-bearing (leaf 4) = 0.60 % Cl; leaf 9 = 0.55% Cl; bearing (leaf 14) = 0.30% Cl with optimum leaf Cl as 0.50%; 60% and 55% respectively for nut per palm, copra weight per nut and copra yield per palm. The nutritional needs of palms for Cl at the nursery stage is 30 g Cl per seedling. Under field condition, the requirement increases with age from 40 g to 1000 g per palm leveling off at fifth year from planting.
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