Effect of Nitrogen and Potassium Fertilization on Banana Plants Cultivated in the Humid Tropical Amazon

ABSTRACT

Banana (Musa spp.) is widely cultivated in tropical regions because of their economic importance for the local market as the source of food for the regional population. In the Amazon region, the banana crop was cultivated in the river basin before the 90th decade of the last century, but after the black sigatoka (Mycosphaerella fijiensis) and the increases of the bacteria wilt (Raostonia solanarum), the crops migrated to upper land soils with low natural fertility where there was no influence of floods for natural fertilization from the regional rivers. Nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) have been the foremost nutrient required by the banana trees and the aim of this study was to evaluate during two growing periods, the influence of the N and dipotassium oxide (K₂O) fertilization in yield and nutritional status of banana. The experimental design was a completely randomized blocks in a factorial 3 × 4 scheme with three replicates. The treatments were three N rates (0, 267, and 533 kg ha⁻¹) and four K₂O rates (200, 800, 1,600, and 2,400 kg ha⁻¹). The field plots had seven plants where the useful area had only five plants spaced 3 m × 2 m. The foliar N and sulfur (S) content were significantly influenced by the N rates, while foliar K, magnesium (Mg), and copper (Cu) were significant under the K₂O rates. The N, K₂O, and N × K₂O interaction interfered the foliar zinc (Zn) content. In both crop cycles, the bunch biomass and banana yield were not influenced by the N and K₂O rates.

KEYWORDS:

• Banana yield
• Musa spp
• nutritional status

Acknowledgments

We are thankful Concita Campelo and Márcia Pereira de Almeida at Embrapa Amazônia Ocidental (CPAA) for the laboratory analyses.