The effect of macronutrient deficiency on the nutritional status of lopsided oat, cultivar common

Abstract

Although black oat is amply cultivated in Brazil as a forage crop or straw groundcover, there are few studies on the plant nutrient requirements. The present study aimed to assess the effect the deficiency of the nutrients N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and S could have on the growth, production of dry material and on levels and accumulation of plant nutrients in lopsided oat (Avena strigosa Schreber) of the Common cultivar. Visual symptoms of nutritional disorders were also assessed. A completely random design was used, with seven treatments that corresponded to the complete Hoagland & Arnon solution (macro and micronutrients), and the same solution with individual omissions of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, and S in three repetitions. The absence of N, P, K, and Mg were the treatments that most limited the growth and dry material production in the lopsided oat plants. The nutrient levels in the aerial part of the plants resulting from the complete treatment and those from the incomplete solutions were respectively: N = 39.2 and 10.9; P = 8.0 and 1.0; K = 73.8 and 17.6; Ca = 9.5 and 1.7; Mg = 2.7 and 0.7; S = 3.0 and 2.1 g.kg-1. The induced deficiency of each nutrient diminished the absorption of each of these by the plants thus resulting in morphological alterations characteristic of the deficiency symptoms of each element.

Additional keywords: Avena strigosa Schreber; visual diagnosis; nutrition; deficiency symptoms; nutritional solution.