Agronomic performance and soil chemical attributes in a banana tree orchard fertigated with humic substances1

Abstract

Fertigation with humic substances products has been adopted in commercial banana tree plantations. However, there are few studies on the procedure to confirm its technical feasibility. This study aimed at assessing the effects of fertigation with humic substances on the chemical attributes of a Dystric Densic Xantic Ferralsol cultivated with the 'BRS Princesa' banana tree cultivar and on the agronomic performance of the orchard. The experiment was conducted using a randomized blocks design, with six treatments and four replications. Treatments consisted of a monthly application of humic substances doses based on the commercially recommended reference dose for the banana plantation (12.09 kg ha-1 cycle-1). The doses used were equivalent to percentages of the reference dose (100 %, 150 %, 200 %, 250 % and 300 %), in addition to the control. No significant effects of the fertigation with humic substances that could justify the use of the product at the doses assessed were observed on the soil chemical attributes, banana growth and yield.

Fertigation of ‘BRS Princesa’ banana with humic substance and saponin-based plant extracts

“…Despite the significant effect of the application of the substances for the variable NHB, the mean absolute values recorded remained very similar, slightly differing from each other, so that the isolated application of HS did not have expressive results on yield, with absolute means very close to those of the control treatment. This corroborates the results reported by Melo et al (2016), who studied monthly HS application, through microsprinkler irrigation, in a fertigated cultivation of the same banana cultivar and observed no significant effect on any of the production variables, or even statistical differences between the absolute means of the treatments and the control.…”

“…Besides, the nature of these organic compounds is relatively complex and there is unconsolidated knowledge on the action of the humic fraction on plants due to its composition and chemical structure, which has not been elucidated and is variable (Baldotto and Baldotto, 2014). Another aspect is the doses of HS application, which may not have been sufficient to promote positive responses on banana plants (Hartz and Bottoms, 2010;Lodhi et al, 2013;Coelho et al, 2016;Melo et al, 2016).…”

From Lab to Field: Role of Humic Substances Under Open-Field and Greenhouse Conditions as Biostimulant and Biocontrol Agent

“…Selim et al (2009) highlighted that subsurface drip irrigation method has a highly significant effect on potato tuber yield rather than surface drip irrigation, due to maintenance of optimum soil moisture content in the root zone in an Egyptian sandy soil. However, no effect was found in banana seedling with the drip irrigation with HS in tropical soil (de Melo et al, 2016), implying that crop and soil type have to be taken into account. A multiple-option of HS application, combining the use of solid HS at pre-sowing moment prior to fertigation with HS, can be useful to mitigate adverse environmental conditions (Smoleñ et al, 2017), or the use of wastewater for fertigation with HS incorporated into soil for saving water resources (Masciandaro et al, 2014).…”

Experimental planning for the evaluation of phenotipic descriptors in banana

“…Improved germplasm tests (JIAA et al, 2017) and / or agronomic practices to increase productivity (MELO et al, 2016) require accuracy and precision (ORTIZ, 1995;SRIPATHI et al, 2017), and regardless of objectives, they try to detect significant differences among treatments. This is of increasingly importance, as technological advances make the identification of these differences difficult, in addition to the fierce dispute over resources and experimental areas.…”