Desenvolvimento de raízes e produtividade de cana-de-açúcar relacionados à adubação nitrogenada / Root growth and sugarcane productivity related to nitrogen fertilization

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2008

RESUMO

Studies of nitrogen fertilization in sugarcane are usually restricted to evaluations of the effects on growth and productivity of the shoots. There are evidences that nitrogen fertilization favors the growth of roots, the absorption of nutrients and sugarcane productivity. This work was designed to evaluate root development and sugarcane productivity (SP81 3250) in the crop cycles of the cane-plant and of the first ratoon. Three experiments were conducted in a randomized blocks design, with four replications, in three different soils, a Typic Eutrustox (TE) and an Arenic Kandiustults (AK) (both of medium texture), and a clayey Rhodic Eutrustox (RE). Treatments for the cane-plant were nitrogen (N) rates of 0, 40, 80 and 120 kg ha-1 N. In the first ratoon crop each plot of cane-plant was split in four subplots to which rates of 0, 50, 100 and 150 kg ha-1 of N was applied. In the first harvest, the root system was evaluated in all of the treatments applied on the three soils (TE, AK and RE), whereas in the second harvest the root system was evaluated only for the subplots of the planting treatments control and 120 kg ha-1 N in TE and AK. For the experiment in the RE soil, only control and 150 kg ha-1 N subplots of the control and 120 kg ha-1 N main plots had the ratoon root system evaluated. The sampling of roots with probe resulted in a mass of roots that did not differ from the monolith evaluation, indicating that this method can be used for the evaluation of sugarcane roots. Nitrogen fertilization at planting resulted in a higher concentration of roots in the top 0.2 m in AK. There was a pronounced growth of roots in TE and in AK from October, 2005 to February, 2006, and a reduction of the mass from February until harvest; however development of the above ground part of the plant was not affected. Until February, about 20% of accumulated N in the whole plant was found in the roots, decreasing to 5% at harvest, as a consequence of root mass reduction. The N rates applied to the cane-plant favored the roots growth and crop productivity in TE and RE, and the sucrose accumulation in AK. The rates of fertilizer-N in the ratoon favored the productivity of stalks and sugar yield in the three soils. In the first harvest, it was obtained a larger productivity of stalks (152 t ha-1) and a smaller mass of roots (1.35 t ha-1) in RE in relation to TE and AK (139 and 145 t ha-1 of stalks and 2.5 and 2.4 t ha-1 of roots, respectively). The productivity of the second harvest was similar to that of the first harvest in AK (120 t ha-1), but it decreased drastically in RE (80 t ha-1), as a consequence of the small mass of roots in RE in the first harvest, attributed to a high water deficit in the months prior to and after harvest. Nitrogen fertilization applied after the first harvest influenced root growth only in the RE soil; however the mass of roots decreased from the first to the second harvest while in the TE and AK soils the root mass remained constant.

ASSUNTO(S)

root system adubação cana-de-açúcar produtividade cane-plant first ratoon crop. water deficit fertilizantes nitrogenados raiz.

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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