Author(s)

Ademar Pereira Serra, Marlene Estevão Marchetti, Simone Cândido Ensinas, Henrique Soares de Morais, Vanessa do Amaral Conrad, Franklyn Clawdy Nunes Guimarães, Gislaine Paola de Oliveira Barbosa

Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), Campo Grande-MS, Brazil.
Soil Science, Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados (UFGD), Dourados, Brazil.

The diagnosis of nutritional state is an important tool to understand the nutritional requirement of plants and the influence of the nutritional balance on the yield. The proposed in this study was to apply the Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS) to assess the nutritional state of cotton crop through the order of nutrient requirement and nutritional balance. Yield data from plots (average acreage 100 ha) and foliar concentrations of macro and micronutrients of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum r. latifolium) plants were stored in a database. The criterion to define the reference population consisted of plots with above-average yields + 2/3 standard deviation (over 4785 kg·ha^-1 seed cotton yield). The DRIS method was efficient to evaluate the nutrition state of cotton. It was feasible to identify the order of plant requirement and nutritional balance. It was feasible to observe that when minor the Nutritional Balance Index (NBI) it’s higher the yield. It means that to reach high yield it is necessary to show low NBI. The Sulphur, Boron and Zinc showed the higher frequency as the most required nutrients by plant. The Magnesium and Manganese were the less required by the cotton plant, this means that both of them were limiting the yield by excess in the tissue.

Nutritional Diagnosis; Gossypium Hirsutum; Mineral Nutrition and NBI

A. Serra, M. Marchetti, S. Ensinas, H. Morais, V. Conrad, F. Guimarães and G. Barbosa, "Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS) to Assess the Nutritional State of Cotton Crop in Brazil," American Journal of Plant Sciences, Vol. 5 No. 4, 2014, pp. 508-516. doi: 10.4236/ajps.2014.54065.