Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 8.6.
The effect of cutting height of pseudostem at primary bunch harvest on the
growth rate of the follower plant in the month after cutting, crop cycle in months
to harvest of the follower, and the weight of the follower bunch (after Daniells and
O'Farrell, 1987).
form adds sulfur to the soil, the rates vary widely. For example, using KNO
3
at
100 kg/ha in South Africa is suitable where minimum leaching occurs, while
250 kg/ha is needed in Israel and up to 600 kg/ha is used in other countries
with high runof , leaching and yields. Under less-intensive cultivation,
organic matter plus 0.25 kg each of urea and KCl per mat (production unit)
supplement is applied every 3 months. In some areas, no K is recommended,
e.g. the Sula Valley of Honduras and the Jordan Valley of Israel.
If some calcium or magnesium defi ciency is observed, dolomitic rock,
or magnesium sulfate, calcium carbonate or magnesium oxide can be used.
For sulfur defi ciency normally a sulfate fertilizer will solve the problem. For
minor elements foliar application is preferably to soil applications of the
defi cient element.
In the high-density annual planting being used in some places in Latin
America for plantains, if no drip irrigation is in place, research has shown that
two dry fertilizations of N and K per cycle are enough, with 30-40% of the
total yearly amount applied when the plants have developed the fi rst leaf in the
fi eld, and the other 60-70% when they have developed ten leaves; applications
are applied around the single pseudostem (Belalcazar, 1991). Phosphorus is
applied at planting time.
