Effects of fertilizer application rates on annual growth and nutrient accumulation for autumn sowing Jatropha curcas L.

ObjectiveThe nutritious characteristics were studied, in order to provide references for appropriate fertil-ization in cultivation of Jatropha curcas L. MethodUsing J. curcas cultivar FD-8 as tested material, the pot experiment was conducted to study the annual growth characteristics and nutrient accumulation of autumn sowing J. curcas under dif-ferent application rates of compound fertilizer(1.415, 2.830 and 4.246 t/ha), with no fertilization as control(CK). ResultThe results showed that, the compound fertilizer application could obviously promote growth of J. curcas plantlet, while there existed some differences in effect of fertilizer application rates on ground diameter and stem height growth at different growth stages. Under different treatments, the annual accumulation of N, P2O5 and K2O were 0.185-0.750, 0.249-1.047 and 1.089-4.514 g/plant, respectively, and the ratio was approximately 1.0∶1.4∶6.2. With the increase of fertilizer applica-tion rates, the annual accumulation of N, P2O5 and K2O in root, stem and leaf increased significantly, while the contents of N, P2O5 and K2O in root, stem and leaf increased first but then decreased. The compound fertilizer application had ob-viously influence on N, P2O5 and K2O distribution in root, stem and leaf.ConclusionThe compound fertilizer(N∶P2O5∶K2O=18∶8∶18) application rate of 4.246 t/ha is mostly beneficial to supplement N, P and K nutrient, and which can improve synthetical growth of J. curcas.