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Nutrient Cycling and Uptake

Foliage Residue Decomposition and Nutrient Release in Peach Palm (Bactris gasipaes Kunth) Plantations for Heart-of-Palm Production in Costa Rica

^a Cent. for Agron. Investigations, Univ. of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
^b Dep. of Soil Sci., North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC 27695

^* Corresponding author (michael_wagger{at}ncsu.edu)

Received for publication October 2, 2004. Peach palm (Bactris gasipaes Kunth) for heart-of-palm production exports relatively low amounts of nutrients from the field and leaves considerable amounts of residue and nutrients on the ground as mulch. The primary objective of this study was to gain an understanding of residue decomposition and nutrient release patterns of peach palm foliage in a mature plantation in Costa Rica. The study was conducted within a 16-yr commercial peach palm stand during two typically seasonal wet periods and one typically dry period. The third leaf of the five leaves cut during harvest of the stem portion were placed in 1-mm mesh nylon bags. Bags were placed on the soil surface and retrieved at 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, and 48 wk. Initial residue N concentrations over the three placement periods ranged from 24.2 to 28.1 g kg^–1, C to N ratios between 16:1 and 17:1, cellulose from 251 to 325 g kg^–1, and lignin from 80 to 104 g kg^–1. There was no effect of seasonal periods on residue decomposition and N, P, and K release. Residue decomposition and nutrient release were best fitted by single-exponential, three-parameter models. The residue decomposition rate was 0.1472 wk^–1 while nutrient release rates ranged from 0.0297 to 0.2998 wk^–1. The potentially available nutrient pools in 4- and 8-yr peach palm stands from a companion experiment ranged on an annual basis from 93 to 107 kg N ha^–1, 14 to 15 kg P ha^–1, 90 to 116 kg K ha^–1, 19 to 23 kg Ca ha^–1, and 13 to 14 kg Mg ha^–1. The relatively rapid decomposition and nutrient release rates would seem to be ideal for this perennial cropping system where plants are continuously absorbing nutrients during the year to support the growth of offshoots that eventually become harvestable stems.