Macronutrient deficiency in cucumber plants: impacts in nutrition, growth and symptoms

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the growth, nutrition and visual deficiency symptoms of cucumber plants as a function of macronutrient omission. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design, with seven treatments and four replicates, corresponding to nutrient solution without nutrient omission (CS) of Hoagland and Arnon, nitrogen (−N), phosphorus (−P), potassium (−K), calcium (−Ca), magnesium (−Mg) and sulfur (−S) omission. Omissions decreased the accumulation of macronutrients with detrimental effects in physiological variables and in the efficiency of absorption, transport and use of macronutrients, causing losses in growth and on dry mass production. Since the losses in dry mass in the shoot were up to 85%, 85%, 83%, 47%, 40% and 40% to the omission of Ca, Mg, N, P, K and S, respectively. The accumulation of macronutrients in the aerial part of cucumber plants that received the complete solution (CS) in relation to each omission (−) was 1058/75, 157/20, 958/152, 578/9, 147/5 and 142/12 for CS_N/−N_N, SC_P/−P_P, SC_K/−K_K, SC_Ca/−Ca_Ca, SC_Mg/−Mg_Mg and SC_S/−S_S, respectively. Therefore, the lowest macronutrients accumulation, the green color index, plant growth and dry matter production were reduced in cucumber plants. The order of limitation of macronutrients in the shoot dry matter production in cucumber plants was N = Ca = Mg > P > K = S.

Keywords:

• Cucumis sativus L.
• nutrient deficiency
• nutrient management
• plant nutrition
• symptomatology
• vegetal production

Conflict of interest

No conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank CAPES (Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education – Financial Code 001), CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) and UFMS (Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul) for their financial support.