Dinámica nutricional del cacao bajo diferentes tratamientos de fertilización con N, P y K en vivero

ABSTRACT The success of the expansion strategies of cocoa production in Colombia due to the new opportunities of the market requires, among others, the production of high quality plants. Although one of the most determinant factors for the quality of plant material in nursery is nutrition, the existing information does not consider genetic and physiological characteristics inherent to plants or nutrient balance from local conditions used for fertilization recommendations in the country. In order to analyze the nutritional dynamics of cocoa plants (IMC67) when submitted to different doses of fertilizers with N, P and K in the nursery stage, three experiments with variable doses of N, P and K from the percentage relation were established, with a reference dose. At 124 days after sowing, the dry biomass and the N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn as well as B content of plants were determined and also parameters of nutritional dynamics, correlation between nutrients and agronomic efficiency. The results allow to conclude consistently that the nutritional dynamics of N, P and K not only changed in relation to the implemented treatments, but also affected the dynamics of almost all other nutrients evaluated, which was confirmed by analyzing the agronomic efficiency of the nutrients applied as the differences in the magnitudes of this parameters corresponded to the nutritional imbalances.