ISHS Acta Horticulturae 819: International Symposium on Growing Media 2007
MICRONUTRIENT DETERMINATION FOR SEVERAL WATER EXTRACTION METHODS OF COIR SUBSTRATE INCUBATED WITH MINERAL FERTILIZERS |
| Authors: | M.F. Abreu, C.A. Abreu, A.M.C. Furlani, O.C. Bataglia, P.R. Furlani |
| Keywords: | laboratory procedures, nutrient diagnosis, boron, chloride, copper, iron, manganese, zinc |
| Abstract:
In Brazil, the production of potted plants in substrates under semi- or protected cultivation is an economically important activity. The substrate nutrient management in potted plant production is not easy, due to non-standardized methods of water extraction for chemical analysis of nutrients that may lead to misinterpretation of nutrient results. The objective of this research was to evaluate current water extraction methods for the chemical analysis of a coir substrate incubated with conventional-NPK and slow-release fertilizers (SRF). Substrate samples were collected at 20, 60 and 120 days after incubation, for the determination of micronutrients using water extraction: 1:1.5; 1:2; 1:5; 1:10; and saturated extract (SE). Cl, B, Cu and Fe concentrations in extracts were not affected by the incubation period, however, Zn and Mn concentrations increased with time. The SE and 1:1.5 extraction methods were the most effective in discriminating differences among fertilization treatments. They resulted in higher values for Cl, Fe, Mn and Zn, than any of the water extracts. They were good for the evaluation of Cu concentration in fertilized coir substrate. | |
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