Abstract
One of the main problems faced in corn cultivation, especially in Cerrado regions, is the deficiency of micronutrients. Among the micronutrients essential for the development of plants, boron (B) stands out for participating in a series of physiological processes. Based on this, the present work aimed to evaluate the performance of corn under fertilization with different sources and doses of boron. The randomized block design in a 4x3 factorial scheme was used. Four boron doses (0, 1, 2, and 3 kg ha-1) and three nutrient sources (boric acid, borax, and ulexite), applied in topdressing, were evaluated. Plant height (cm), stem diameter (mm), first ear insertion height (m), ear length (cm), ear diameter (mm), number of rows per ear, number of grains per row, 1000-grain weight (g), and grain yield (kg ha-1) were evaluated. It was concluded that the boron sources and doses used did not influence the results of plant height, first ear insertion height, number of rows per ear, and grain yield. The three doses evaluated provided increases in stem diameter, with a dose of 2.08 kg ha-1 being the one with the highest average. The application of borax and ulexite results in higher values of ear diameter, number of grains per row, and 1000-grain weight. The dose of 1.74 kg ha-1 of boron provides the highest 1000-grain weight.
Highlights
Corn (Zea mays L.) is one of the main agricultural commodities, it is used mainly for animal feeding, and its demand in the market grows every year (CONAB, 2018)
The results of the analysis of variance of plant height, first ear insertion height, number of rows per ear, and grain yield were not significant, indicating that there were no statistical differences for the sources and doses used, as well as there was no significant interaction between sources and doses
There was no significant interaction between sources and doses of boron, with a considerable difference only for the boron doses used
Summary
Corn (Zea mays L.) is one of the main agricultural commodities, it is used mainly for animal feeding, and its demand in the market grows every year (CONAB, 2018). Brazil stands out as the 3rd largest world producer of this grain, with an estimated production of more than 99 million tons in the 2018/2019 harvest. The search for technologies that solve problems related to pests, diseases, nutritional deficiencies, and climatic factors is constant to reach such high levels of grain yield (Tavares et al, 2015). One of the problems faced by corn producers is the deficiency of micronutrients, caused mainly by cultivation in low fertility soils - such as those in the Cerrado, by exporting nutrients with the harvest and by applying high doses of limestone (Nogueira et al, 2019). Boron (B) deficiency is one of the most common among micronutrients, occurring more frequently in sandy soils through the leaching of the nutrient into layers not reached by plant roots
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