Accumulation and allocation of nutrients in sugar cane

The objective of this study was to evaluate, along the first cycle of sugar cane, the capacity of eleven varieties of sugar cane (SP79-1011; RB813804; RB863129; RB872552; RB943365; RB72454; RB763710; SP78-4764; SP81-3250; RB867515 and RB92579), cultivated under full irrigation,the accumulation of the nutrients N, P, K, Ca and Mg in the plants aerial parts (stem, leaf and pointer). The research was carried through under field conditions, during the agricultural season 2006/2007, in the Sugar Cane Agricultural Station of the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, in Carpina County, PE/Brazil. The experimental set was a complete randomized block design, with four replications. The accumulation of nutrients in the components of the aerial part was evaluated at 120; 180; 240; 300 and 360 days after plant (DAP). It was observed along the cycle of the sugar cane, mobilization of nutrients N, P and K from the leaves to the points and stems. At 360 DAP the accumulation of N, P and K in the aerial part was higher than the amount added by fertilizers. The varieties RB92579 and SP81-3250 were detached by the highest nutrients accumulation in stems, while RB867515 and RB943365 were the varieties that allocated more nutrients in leaf, which identifies them as the varieties of larger capacity of cycling of those nutrients.