Foliar diagnosis of sugar cane in Mauritius - a historical review
| MSI99P0194 | |
| Ng Kee Kwong, K. F. Gauthier, J. Deville, J. | |
| Foliar diagnosis of sugar cane in Mauritius - a historical review | |
| Periodical article | |
| 1988 | |
| Sug. Cane | |
| (Spring Supplement): 1-7 | |
| En | |
| EN | |
| Foliar diagnosis of sugar cane has now been researched for half a century in Mauritius. The evolution and refinements brought to the art of foliar diagnosis are reviewed in this paper. The establishment of a positive correlation between third leaf P and K levels and responses to P and K fertilizers, respectively, was the first major finding that paved the way for foliar diagnosis to be integrated into the fertilizer management practice of sugar cane. Elucidation of the various factors influencing leaf nutrient composition such as time of leaf sampling and nutrient distribution within the plant laid bare the need to standardize the method of leaf sampling and to adhere strictly to the sampling rules. The only significant difficulty that is encountered in following the sampling rules lies in the accurate assessment of the water status of the cane plant. Several guidelines are at present available for that purpose, namely weekly elongation rate of primary stalks should exveed 10 cm or the leaf spindle should contain more that 78 per cent moisture. The need to sample the leaves in the thousands of individual cane lands as done in the past is no longer necessary. Instead, the nutritional status of sugar cane in Mauritius is satisfactorily followed through foliar analysis of leaves sampled in about 600 permenent sampling units which are fully representative of the soil types and of the management practices. Interpretation of the nutritional trends of sugar cane relies on the 3-year moving average of the leaf data obtained on analysis of the middle 10 cm portion of the lamina instead of the whole leaf. Other refinements which have been introduced include the application of age and variety corrections to the leaf data and the establishment of different leaf N optima for each soil group existing in Mauritius. Foliar diagnosis has in the past helped to disclose and to correct PK deficiencies in sugarcane. At present it is an invaluable tool for following the NPK nutritional trends of sugar cane. In future, foliar diagnosis will assume even greater importance by providing the scope to follow the trace element status of soils in Mauritius. | |
| SUGARCANE FOLIAR DIAGNOSIS PLANT NUTRITION | |
| MAURITIUS | |
| Sugarcane: Soils and plant nutrition | |
| Techniques: Foliar diagnosis | |
| 1992-02-13 | |
| En | |
| Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute | |
| LIB | |
| CAT | |
| CHEM |