Mineral nutrient ratios and cacao productivity

Abstract

The mineral nutrient ratios are parameters for evaluating the crop nutritional balance through foliar analysis. This study aimed to verify the correlations between the main mineral nutrient ratios in leaves and the cacao productivity of 48 cropping areas. The chemical analyses were carried out to determine foliar N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn nutrient concentrations. The Zn/Cu and the Ca/Mg ratios showed a positive nutritional relation with cacao productivity. The ratios with Cu as denominator – Mn/Cu, Ca/Cu, Mg/Cu, P/Cu, N/Cu and K/Cu – also showed a positive nutritional relation with cacao productivity. The P/Zn and N/Zn nutrient ratios showed a negative nutritional relation with the cacao productivity.

Keywords:

• bivariate analysis
• mineral nutrition
• multivariate analysis
• nutritional balance
• Theobroma cacao L

Acknowledgments

Thanks to M. Libânio Agrícola S.A. company and Edmundo Dias de Andrade, Agent of Agricultural and Livestock Activities of CEPLAC, for the support in data collection.

Conflict of interest

No conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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Additional information

Funding

The project SCA 58-1245-3-237F of USDA-ARS-FUNPAB partially supported field and lab activities