Growth and Nutrient Absorption of Cape Gooseberry (Physalis PeruvianaL.) in Soilless Culture

Abstract

Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.) is a solanaceous plant. The growth and time-course of nutrient accumulation of the plant and its partitioning between roots, stems, leaves, and fruits were examined. The study was conducted analyzing two nutrient solutions in soilless culture under greenhouse conditions during two consecutive seasons. The macronutrient contents were analyzed. On average, the yield was 8.9 t·ha -1 . Growth of the plant until 90 d after transplanting obeys an exponential function of time and the relative growth rate for this period was determined. Nitrogen (N) was the element that showed the highest concentration, corresponding to leaves (4.67%), followed by potassium (K) in stems (4.46%). The highest accumulations of N, phosphorous (P), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) were found in leaves and of K in the stems.Potassium showed the highest nutrient accumulation (29 g·plant -1 ) and the highest specific uptake rate.

Biomass production and nutrient accumulation in physalis in two edaphoclimatic conditions

“…Our results show that the maximum N extracted by physalis, reached 28 at DTA and 40 kg ha -1 at SJE (Table 3), which was 56 to 80% of the amount of N applied (50 kg ha -1 ). This demonstrates the high demand for N by physalis (Martínez et al, 2008;Torres et al, 2015;Parra et al, 2015). In the case of P, the initial concentration in the soil was low (Table 1), and the extraction of P by the plants was between 1.5 at DTA and Acta Scientiarum.…”

“…These results suggest that physalis is responsive to increased availability of nutrients in the soil despite being a plant considered to be rustic (Muniz et al, 2014), which grows in different types of soil and requires low fertilization. Thus sufficient nutrition can result in adequate growth and crop yield in physalis (Torres et al, 2015).…”

“…N is one of the macronutrients most required by physalis (Martínez et al, 2008;Torres et al, 2015;Parra et al, 2015) as also K. Deficiency in K results in growth reductions (Marschner, 2012). Also, it is responsible for flowering and fixation of fruit (Muniz et al, 2014), and the deficiencies of N and K affect the weight of the fruit (Martínez et al, 2008).…”

“…The accumulation of P and S in the shoot and fruit showed that P was less required by physalis than S, and that P and S accumulated more in fruit than in shoot (Table 3). P is one of the primary macronutrients required by physalis (Torres et al, 2015;Parra et al, 2015). Being a mobile nutrient in the phloem they tend to accumulate in fruit (Marschner, 2012) resulting in them having higher P concentration (Díaz et al, 2011).…”

“…The development phase of the plant determines the amount of nutrients it absorbs (Moschini et al, 2017;Silva et al, 2017;Silva, Cruz, Braga Neto, Gonçalves, & Silva, 2018). The amount of nutrients accumulated and exported by the various organs of the plant is important for the management of fertilization (Martínez, Sarmiento, Fischer, & Jiménez, 2008;Torres et al, 2015;Parra, Bucheli, Marín, Coral, & Lagos, 2015). Therefore, it is necessary to study the uptake of nutrients as a function of time to predict how, when, and how much fertilizer should be applied.…”