Mineral fertilization with macronutrients in castor bean, lineage UFRB 222

Antonio R Cavalcante,Lucia H G Chaves,Felipe G De Souza,Washington B De Lima,Simone A Silva,Josely D Fernandes

doi:10.1590/1807-1929/agriambi.v24n2p106-114

Abstract

ABSTRACT The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of mineral fertilization on the growth and production of seeds and oil of castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) lineage UFRB 222. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse of the Centro de Tecnologia e Recursos Naturais at the Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, PB, Brazil. A randomized block design with three repetitions and 14 treatments originated from a Baconian matrix was adopted. Reference doses were 50:300:150 kg ha-1 of N, P2O5 and K2O. At the end of the study, plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, leaf area, total seed number, total seed weight, total fruit number and oil production per plant were evaluated. On average, the nitrogen dose of 150 kg ha-1 led to adequate values of growth and yield variables. For plant growth, 300 kg ha-1 of phosphorus should be applied, since the differences in the increase of growth variables between this dose and the highest ones estimated by the equations were very small; for castor bean production, the best applied dose was 600 kg ha-1 of phosphorus. The application of potassium increased the leaf area, number of seeds and production of oil, and the best dose was 300 kg ha-1. Phosphorus was the nutrient that promoted the highest production of oil per plant (92.40 g), followed by nitrogen (75.55 g) and potassium (72.10 g).

Highlights

Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is a species of the Euphorbiaceae family, an oilseed crop that has stood out in Northeast Brazil due to its high adaptability to adverse weather conditions and to soil and management conditions, and due to the multiplicity of industrial applications of castor bean oil (Marinho et al, 2010).According to PROBIODIESEL (2002), Brazil has recovered the national production of castor bean compared to the previous harvests
Phosphorus was the nutrient that promoted the highest production of oil per plant (92.40 g), followed by nitrogen (75.55 g) and potassium (72.10 g)
It is known that plant nutrition is one of the main agronomic technologies used to increase crop productivity (Chaves et al, 2011), with nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) elements, which are essential for growth and production of the castor bean

Summary

Introduction

Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is a species of the Euphorbiaceae family, an oilseed crop that has stood out in Northeast Brazil due to its high adaptability to adverse weather conditions and to soil and management conditions, and due to the multiplicity of industrial applications of castor bean oil (Marinho et al, 2010).According to PROBIODIESEL (2002), Brazil has recovered the national production of castor bean compared to the previous harvests. Due to several factors, such as lack of water, inadequate use of agricultural inputs and castor bean cultivation under low to medium technological level, according to Severino et al (2006), productivity increases were small, disappointing several farmers, who abandoned castor bean cultivation. Castor bean has been produced in some Brazilian states and many research studies about new lineage and/or cultivars still continue, especially at the Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia, where there is a germplasm bank of castor bean. One of these last lineages launched by the Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia was UFRB 222; the information on adequate fertilization recommendations for this lineage is not certain. It is known that plant nutrition is one of the main agronomic technologies used to increase crop productivity (Chaves et al, 2011), with nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) elements, which are essential for growth and production of the castor bean

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Conclusion