Abstract
Jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.) is an herbaceous plant, perennial, belonging to the family of Euphorbiaceaes. Jatropha’s extract is used for the harvest of fruits, high amount of nutrients and, if not properly fertilized, can lead to the impoverishment of the soil over the years of cultivation. Thus, in this present work, we have a concern with the importance of fertilization. The experiment was conducted under field conditions in the 2014/2015 agricultural year, in São Jorge do Patrocínio, State of Parana, Brazil. The experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with five replications and five treatments, totaling 25 installments. The treatments were as follows: organic fertilization (total rate: 2,800 g plant-1), mineral fertilizers with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (total rate: 174.4 g plant-1, and 13.2 g plant-1 of urea, 141.2 g plant-1 of superphosphate and 20 g plant-1 of potassium chloride), 75% organic fertilizer + 25% mineral, 50% organic fertilizer + 50% mineral, 25% organic + 75% mineral, applied at planting. Poultry litter was used as the organic fertilizer source, the nitrogen source was urea, the phosphorus source was superphosphate and, the potassium source was potassium chloride. Spacing of 2 × 2 m between plants and the pits with 30 × 30 × 30 cm. The evaluated variables were: plant height, stem diameter, contents macro and micronutrients in leaves. It can be concluded that there was no influence of mineral and organic fertilization on the initial growth of jatropha. As for the macronutrient levels, there were no significant differences for P and K. However, regarding the mineral fertilizer and the micronutrient content, there was a significant difference in Mn, in the treatment with total rate of mineral fertilizer and in the treatment with 25% organic fertilizer and 75% mineral fertilizer.
Highlights
The Euphorbiaceae family comprises approximately 8000 species, with about 320 genera
The studies involving chemical and organic fertilization for the jatropha culture are still incipient, and sometimes provide divergent technical information, there are different studies, in which there is a lack of information on crop conditions, we used the recommended fertilization for castor bean in this experiment, according to Savi Filho (1998), which consists of mineral fertilization with 15 kg ha-1 of N, 60 kg ha-1 of P2O5 and 30 kg ha-1 of K2O
In the experiment on nutrient omission in jatropha plants grown in nutrient solution, Maia et al (2014), observed that the absence of N and P were the ones that affected the macronutrient contents in the aerial part of the jatropha plants, promoting uniform chlorosis of the leaf blades
Summary
The Euphorbiaceae family comprises approximately 8000 species, with about 320 genera. The Jatropha genus contains approximately 160 species of herbaceous and shrub plants, of which medicinal, ornamental value and others produce oil, as is the case of Jatropha curcas L. The pie remaining from seed pressing is a fertilizer rich in nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and organic matter, but it is not recommended for use in animal feed without adequate treatment. Another use of jatropha solid wastes can be, as observed in other organic wastes, such as pine bark, its use as charcoal and raw material in papermaking and boiler feed for steam production and bioelectricity (Gusmão, 2010). There are dozens of plant species present in Brazil that can be used in the production of biodiesel, among them: soybean, palm, sunflower, babassu, peanut, castor bean and Jatropha (Heller, 1996, Ceará Biodiesel, 2007)
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