The nutrition of cashew on the sandy soils of Malaysia

Abstract

The nutrition of cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.), commercially grown on a large scale on infertile sandy Spodosols at Besut, Malaysia, was evaluated based on the major element of the leaves composition from two fertilizer trials and from an independent field nutritional survey (1979)(1980)(1981). Except for the sampling periods which represented four physiological stages of the crop, commercial fertilizers applied even up to 1.4 kg/ tree/year did not show significant changes in the five major elements in cashew tree leaves. However, the organic matter levels within the top 32 cm of the surface soil did show consistent positive correlations with each of the five major elements in leaves sampled from a nutritional survey. The significance of these foliar data is discussed in relation to the overall nutrition of cashew grown extensively on sandy infertile soils of Malaysia. 680 YAACOB AND KAMAL IHTRODUCTION Cashev (Anacardium oaaidentale L.) is a neglected crop grown by small fanners on infertile sandy soils . It has been estimated that more than lU2,000 ha of such soils are to be found on the eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia . In 1973, the Cashevnut Industry of Malaysia (CIMA), a subsidiary of the Food Industries of Malaysia (FIMA), embarked on a large scale planting (>1100 ha) of cashev using mixed planting materials and local agronomic knov-hov at that time. A year later, a further 1100 ha were planted,-and to-date, more than 36"OO ha had been planted to cashevs, 2400 ha at Besut and 1200 ha at Kuantan. These plantations came into production in 19T6. Since then, the yield is not 7 12 only lov compared with that obtained elsevhere, * , but also varies between locations. Since conditions at the Besut plantation in terms of yield are more acute basic soil-related research was needed at this location 9 * 1T> l8 . The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the overall nutrition of cashev commercially grown on infertile sandy soils using the current practises adopted by CIMA, together with results of independent nutritional survey carried out rn the field at Besut. MATERIALS AMD METHODS Study AreaThe main study was located at Besut where cashev had been growing on more than 2U00 ha of sandy infertile (Bris) soils since 19T3. The detailed information of cashev grown in a large scale plantation system are given elsewhere . The physical and chemical properties of sandy soils under cashev are given inTable 1, and the analytical methods used were the same as those of Chapman and Pratt . The general fertilizer programme used, irrespective of soil types and planting materials, adopted by IT CIMA since 19T3 is given by taacob et at , while the yield at the Downloaded by [] at 02:51 03 January 2015TABLE 1 Mechanical Composition and Chemical Properties of Sandy 'Brls' Soils Under Cashew on the East Coast, of Peninsular Malaysia Soil series 1 Baging Rudua (well drained) Rudua Soil Horizon A 1 A 1 2 1 Mechanical composition Sand 96.2 98.1 95.2 98.9 87.8 97.0 98.3 98.O 97.5 Silt 1.2