Effects of Control Release Fertilizers on Nutrient Leaching, Palm Growth and Production Cost

Pushpa Soti, Angie Fleurissaint, Stewart Reed and Krish Jayachandran
Additional contact information
Pushpa Soti: Department of Biology, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX 78539, USA
Angie Fleurissaint: Agroecology Program, Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA
Stewart Reed: United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Miami, FL 33158, USA
Krish Jayachandran: Agroecology Program, Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA

Agriculture, 2015, vol. 5, issue 4, 1-11

Abstract: Objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of different controlled release fertilizer technologies on nutrient leaching and plant growth parameters of two palm species, Chinese Fan ( Livistona chinensis ) and Queen ( Syagrus romanzoffiana ). We compared Nutri-Pak (12-4-12 controlled release packet) and Harrell’s (12-4-12 controlled release polymer coated urea) against Atlantic (8-4-12 controlled release polymer coated urea, coated sulfate of potash), the most commonly used palm fertilizer in South Florida. Plants were grown in 25 cm (11 L) pots under 70% shade, watered weekly, with pest and weed control done as required. Plant growth parameters: number of leaves, leaf length and width, and basal diameter, were measured every two months. Leachate was collected weekly after irrigation and a two-month composite sample was analyzed for nutrient concentrations. There was no difference in the growth parameters among the three fertilizers for Chinese Fan plants. However for Queen, Atlantic and Harrell’s had significantly thicker basal diameter than Nutri-Pak. Significant difference in the concentration of nutrients in the leachate was observed among the fertilizer types. Throughout the study period, Nutri-Pak had a lower concentration of nutrients in the leachate than Atlantic and Harrell’s. Our research indicates that Nutri-Pak control release fertilizer is comparable to other commercial fertilizers in Chinese Fan growth, but the larger Queen palms likely require an additional packet. Nutri-Pak fertilizer resulted in less nutrient leaching and could be a better environmental choice.

Keywords: slow release fertilizers; palm growth; nutrient leaching; horticulture (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/5/4/1135/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/5/4/1135/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:5:y:2015:i:4:p:1135-1145:d:59053

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().