Lack and accumulation of boron in the leaves after foliar spraying in cabbage and cauliflower plants

Abstract

Boron deficiency causes biological damage in brassicas according to the growth phase. In this condition, foliar spraying of B causes immediate effects of nutrient accumulation on leaves that may vary in brassicas but are not known. Therefore, the nutritional deficiency as well as the accumulation of B in the leaves over 30 days after their spraying on cabbage and cauliflower plants were evaluated. Were, two experiments were carried out to evaluate the lack of B in the nutritive solution on the nutrition, growth and production of the two brassicas. The other experiments evaluated the dry mass and B leaf content at 0.12 (3 h); 0.25 (6 h); 0.5 (12 h) 1, 5, 15 and 30 days after leaf spraying of the micronutrient and also in the plants that did not receive B in the two brassicas. The effect of the lack of boron was evident in the final growth stage of the plants, causing a decrease in productivity, cab­bage was more sensitive to nutrient deficiency than cauliflower, however. Boron is slowly accumulated by the leaves of the ‘Astrus’ cabbage, absorbing 50% of the applied B, about 15 days after its application and ‘Verona’ cauliflower, at three days and 12 hours after its application.