Abstract
Banana crops in the Caribbean are characterized by the use of high rates of nitrogen (N) fertilization which causes severe environmental damages. The aim of this study was to assess the fertilizer N use efficiency (NUE) of banana crops in the field. To do so, a field trial was carried out during the first (GS1) and the fourth (GS4) growing seasons of banana crops, and the fate of a 15N-labeled pulse applied late in the growing season (flowering stage) was determined. At harvest, NUE (average 24% 15N applied) and the total recovery of fertilizer 15N in the soil–plant system (i.e., 40% in GS1 and 62% in GS4) were low. Low NUE resulted mainly from the dilution in a large soil mineral N pool derived from earlier applications of the labeled-N fertilizer applied at flowering, combined with leaching caused by numerous high-intensity rainfall events (>20 mm d−1). Crop residues from previous cycles present at time of fertilizer application in the fourth growing season, promoted fertilizer N immobilization, which in turn favored fertilizer N recovery by decreasing N leaching. The results suggest that N fertilization after the first season could be reduced by 30% (i.e., −90 kg N ha−1) corresponding to the suppression of two applications from flowering to harvest with the current fertilizer management, as available N derived from earlier applications is sufficient to meet plant requirements.
Highlights
The management of export banana (Musa sp.) cropping systems in the humid tropics of the Caribbean and Latin America involves the use of large quantities of nitrogen (N) fertilizer, which can cause severe and diffuse pollution of water resources [3]
Banana yield was higher in GS4 than in GS1, which is in line with the findings reported by Lassoudière [7] concerning the behavior of banana when it is managed as semi-perennial cropping system
This is due to the fact that the sucker uses some of the resources and the vegetative structure of the mother plant, which favors the start of the daughter plant’s growth by reducing carbon (C) costs
Summary
The management of export banana (Musa sp.) cropping systems in the humid tropics of the Caribbean and Latin America involves the use of large quantities of nitrogen (N) fertilizer (e.g., average400 kg N ha−1 yr−1 [1,2]), which can cause severe and diffuse pollution of water resources [3]. The management of export banana (Musa sp.) cropping systems in the humid tropics of the Caribbean and Latin America involves the use of large quantities of nitrogen (N) fertilizer Several authors have found that N leaching may account for as much as 50% of the added N fertilization because of high rainfall intensity in this region (2000–4000 mm yr−1 ) [4,5]. Despite these agronomic and environmental issues, banana production represents a key economic sector in these regions, which calls for cleaner banana systems through the more precise management of N inputs [6]. A large quantity of crop residues is returned to the soil after harvesting the Agronomy 2020, 10, 666; doi:10.3390/agronomy10050666 www.mdpi.com/journal/agronomy
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