Abstract
Soils destined for forest crops are often limiting with respect to boron (B) and in several eucalyptus crops boron deficiency has been found to be a common occurrence. The objective of this study is to evaluate biomass production, B accumulation and Ca/B ratio in eucalyptus cultivated under different conditions of soil, water availability and doses of B. To that end, an experiment was conducted using a completely randomized design with a 5 x 2 x 2 factorial arrangement consisting of five doses of B (0.00, 0.25, 0.75, 2.25 and 6.25 mg kg-1), two types of soil, namely a Dark Red Latosol (LE) and a Red-Yellow Latosol (LV), and two water tension levels (-0.033 and -0.010 MPa), with four replicates. After plants were grown, determinations were made of Ca and B contents as well as Ca/B ratios in different portions of the plants. Accumulation of B was obtained from the ratio of its contents to dry biomass in each plant portion. It was found that, under natural conditions, both Dark Red Latosol and Red-Yellow Latosol fail to meet the nutritional requirements for B in eucalyptus, potentially being limiting to that species. Overall, soil moisture influenced dry biomass production and accumulation of B only in the case of the more sandy texture soil (Red-Yellow Latosol), denoting that this factor is conditional on soil texture. Ca/B ratio results showed that application of B to the soil without a suitable supply of Ca can lead to an imbalance between these nutrients, with possible implications for plant growth and nutrition.
Highlights
In several parts of the world, the insufficiency of boron (B) is one of the most common deficiencies among micronutrients (SAKYA et al, 2002)
The objective of this work is to evaluate biomass production, accumulation and critical levels of B, and Ca/B ratio in Eucalyptus citriodora cultivated under different conditions of soil, water availability and doses of B
Biomass production of shoots and roots in Eucalyptus citriodora was found to be significantly affected by doses of B, soil types and water tensions
Summary
In several parts of the world, the insufficiency of boron (B) is one of the most common deficiencies among micronutrients (SAKYA et al, 2002). In Brazil, in cerrado areas, where virtually every crop of Eucalyptus sp is non-native, B deficiency is a common occurrence, with shoot dieback being one of the most characteristic symptoms of B deficiency (SILVEIRA et al, 2004). Soil moisture conditions exert great influence on the availability of this nutrient for plants. This fact becomes important in areas susceptible to. According to Sakya et al (2002), water stress reduces B uptake by plant roots and its consequent translocation to the shoots, promoting an increasing plant requirement for this nutrient
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