Micronutrient deficiency in black pepper

Abstract

Black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) is usually grown in soils of low natural fertility, and very acidic. The following experiment was carried out in order to gain information on the mineral nutrition of black pepper by inducing deficiency symptoms of B, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn. Young plants of the Bragantina cultivar were grown in nutrient solution under the treatments: complete, alterneted absence of B, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn. Deficiency symptoms due to the omission of nutrients in the solution began to show up between 70 and 130 days after the experiment was started. Lack of Fe was the treatment with more drastic effect on growth. Fe and Mn were the elements taken up in higher proportion, being followed, in decreasing order, by Zn, B and Cu. Adequate and deficient leaf levels of the elements and mg kg^-1 were found to be respectively: B=34 and 17 , Cu=11 and 6, Mn=100 and 31, Fe=261 and 234, Zn=53 and 16.