Evaluation of nutrient status and grain yield of two corn cultivars under different soil aluminum levels after liming

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of decreasing levels of Al saturation through the addition of lime under field conditions in the nutritional status and grain yield of two corn (Zea mays L.) cultivars: one tolerant and one non-tolerant to Al. The experiment was conducted on Red Yellow Latosol (Oxisol) at the Paraná, Brazil. Control plots received no lime (T0), the treatment T3 received lime to achieve 0% Al saturation and treatments T1 and T2 recieved 33.3% and 66.6%, respectively, of the lime applied to treatment T3. At full bloom stage, representative leaves ("nutritional leaves") were analysed for macro, micronutrients and Al contents, and in treatments T0 and T3 were also analyzed for Al distribution in shoot plants parts (stem, node, internode and leaves). Liming increased concentrations of N, P and Mg and decreased concentrations of Mn and Al in the "nutritional leaves"of both cultivars. The Al distribution in the shoot plant parts showed that its concentration was higher in the leaves than in any other plant part, independent of liming level. Grain yield of the tolerant cultivar was higher, although for both cultivars increase in yield was correlated with decrease in Al saturation.