PEANUT PLANT NUTRIENT ABSORPTION AND GROWTH

ABSTRACT The chemical composition and the accumulation of nutrients in stems, leaves and fruits are essential information to meet the nutritional requirements of a peanut crop. Thus, the goals of the present study were to evaluate the rate of absorption of macro- and micronutrients; identify the critical phases of nutrient absorption in the peanut crop; and perform growth analysis of these plants. For this, an experiment under field conditions using randomized blocks with 15 treatments and four repetitions was assembled. Each treatment corresponded to a sampling time, held from 10 days after planting, until the end of the cycle, which corresponded to 160 days. Peanut plants generally showed higher macro- and micronutrient absorption rates at 110 days after emergence, coinciding with the highest growth rate of the crop. Thus, the higher nutrient absorption rate and increased crop growth rate occurred during the reproductive period, formation of fruit and grain filling.