Nutritional status of jatropha under cattle manure and natural phosphate in rainfed conditions

Abstract

There is little information on the technical recommendation of fertilization for jatropha in the semi-arid region. This study aimed to evaluate the nutritional status of jatropha plants fertilized with cattle manure and natural phosphate under rainfed conditions. The experiment was set in a randomized block design, with three replicates, arranged in a 4 x 4 factorial scheme, corresponding to 4 doses of cattle manure (0, 4, 8 and 12 t ha-1) and 4 doses of natural phosphate (0, 250, 500 and 750 kg ha-1). The application of 8 t ha-1 of cattle manure, in isolation or associated with 500 kg ha-1 of natural phosphate, promotes adequate conditions to obtain jatropha plants with sufficient levels (g kg-1) of N (29.8), P (5.1), K (33.8), Ca (17.1), Mg (14.0) and S (2.6) and micronutrients (Cu = 8.0 and Mn = 94.4 mg kg-1) in its leaf tissue.

Jatropha curcas growth and productivity under different phosphorus doses

“…According to Laviola and Dias (2008) phosphorus is important especially in the crop establishment Silva et al, v.13, n.47, p.63-73, Dourados, 2020 stage for root and vegetative organ development. In some research results with young J. curcas plants, positive growth effects were observed in response to phosphate fertilization (Delima et al, 2011;Delima et al, 2015;Dos Santos et al, 2015).…”