The course of fertilizer nitrogen uptake by rainfed sugarcane in Mauritius
| MSI99P1604 | |
| Ng Kee Kwong, K. F. Deville, J. | |
| The course of fertilizer nitrogen uptake by rainfed sugarcane in Mauritius | |
| Periodical article | |
| 1994 | |
| Journal of Agricultural Science | |
| 0021-8596 | |
| 122(3): 385-391 | |
| En | |
| En | |
| The patterns of N uptake and dry matter synthesis by sugarcane (Saccharum hybrid spp.) were studied at four locations in Mauritius with 15N-labelled ammonium sulphate (100 kg N/ha) applied either in a single dressing in September or in two split applications in September and the following February. More than 80 per cent of the total N recovered at harvest (100-120 kg N/ha) was absorbed by the sugarcane during an active uptake period from October to January. Split application prolonged this active N uptake until April only and had no effect on dry matter accumulation. While total N absorbed by abote-ground sugarcane showed no decline over time, 10-20 kg N/ha of the 15N-labelled N was lost from the green tops even when the N was applied on two occasions. The f ertilizer N losses from above-ground sugarcane were, however, not evident when fertilizer N recofery with time was studied by the difference method. In view of the observed losses of fertilizer N from the aerial parts of sugarcane, measurement of fertilizer N recovery at harvest by the N isotope dilution technique underestimates fertilizer N uptake by sugarcane and attributes too large a fraction of N loss to denitrification/volatilization of NH3. | |
| SUGARCANE NITROGEN NITROGEN UPTAKE PLANT NUTRITION FERTILIZERS | |
| MAURITIUS | |
| Sugarcane: Soils and plant nutrition | |
| Fertilization: Nitrogen | |
| 1994-09-09 | |
| En | |
| LIB | |
| CAT | |
| CHEM |