Coconut Research Institute Repository

Tennakoon, N.A.

Fertilizer for coconut - organics, organic and inorganic mixtures for nfor nutrient supply of coconut

Wijesekara, H.T.R.

Coconut leaf rot and Weligama coconut leaf wilt technology h update

Nadeesha, M.K.F.

Tennakoon,  A.

Removal of Micronutrients from High and Moderate Yielding 
Coconut Plantations in Sri Lanka 
M.K.F. Nadheesha and A. Tennakoon 
Soils and Plant Nutrition Division, Coconut Research Institute, Bandirippuwa Estate, 
Lunuwila 
ABSTRACT 
Coconut palms absorb large quantities o f nutrients from the soil. A high proportion o f these 
nutrients are removed from the soil along with the harvest and other plant components. The 
objective of this study was to determine the rate of metallic micronutrient removal from soil series 
belonging to highly suitable ( S ; ) and moderately suitable (S ) land classes. This was done in order 
to assess the adequacy o f the available heavy metallic micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn) and to 
identify depletion of these reserves in the soil. Harvested nuts, fallen fronds and inflorescence 
parts were collected for a two-year period from each randomly selected 10 palms located in Madampe 
series (S , ) and Boralu series ( S 4 ) at Bandirippuwa Estate and their micronutrient contents were 
determined. The reserves o f micronutrients in the soil were determined by using representative soil 
samples taken from the manure circle and the center of squares at (0-25) cm and (25-50) cm depths. 
The annual removal o f Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn micronutrients from soil o f Madampe series were 1.14, 
0 .63,0.13, and 0.27 kg/ha/yr respectively. The Boralu soil series were 1.71,0.88,0.14, and 0.44 kg/ha/ 
yr respectively. The soil reserves o f available Fe in both soil series and Mn, Cu, and Zn in Boralu 
series were adequate for the coconut palm for a long period. It was estimated that Fe reserves could 
be used by the palms more than 300 years in Madampe series and for more than 500 years in Boralu 
series o f which palms can utilize Cu and Zn for more than 250 years. However in Madampe series, 
Mn, Cu and Zn reserves in the soil were barely adequate to compensate the rate o f removal. Hence, 
special attention may be needed for recycling components from the palm itself to improve the soil 
reserves o f above nutrients. 
Keywords : Depletion, metallic, micronutrients, reserves 
INTRODUCTION 
In coconut plantations, harvested nuts, as well as 
fronds and much o f the other residues that are 
removed from the land for various purposes. This 
practice leads to gradual depletion o f plant nutrients 
from the soil (Somas i r i , 1 9 8 7 ) ; furthermore, the 
nutrients stored in the trunk are not returned to the 
soil. Application o f fertilizers containing N, P, K and 
M g at the r e c o m m e n d e d ra tes on ly pa r t i a l ly 
compensates for this depletion. Previous studies 
indicated that nuts remove a considerable quantity 
o f major nutrients (Jeganathan et al, 1 9 7 7 ; Ohler, 
1984 ; Jayasekara et al, 1991 ) .The current fertilizer 
recommendation o f 8 0 0 g o f urea, 9 0 0 g o f Eppawala 
rock phosphate, 1600g o f Muriate o f potash per 
tree for Wet and Intermediate Zones (Adult palm 
Mixture-W) with 1 kg o f dolomite palm/yr is aimed 
at mee t ing the demand o f m a j o r nutr ients for 
p l a n t a t i o n s y i e l d i n g 7 5 0 0 n u t s / h a / y r . T h e 
recommendation for high yielding plantations is 1.5 
times o f the above rates (Mahindapala and Pinto, 
1991) . It would be sufficient for plantations yielding 
up to 1 1 , 2 5 0 nuts/ha/yr; nevertheless, plantations 
yielding 1 2 , 5 0 0 - 1 9 , 0 0 0 nuts/ha/yr as shown by land 
suitability studies (Somasi r i et al, 1 9 9 4 ) removes 
higher quantities o f nutrients than the above inputs 
(Somasir i etal, 2 0 0 0 ; Somasir i etal, 2 0 0 1 ) . 
According to yield potentials, coconut lands are 
categorized into five land suitabil i ty c lasses as 
164 
REMOVAL OF MICRONUTRIENTS FROM COCONUT PLANTATIONS 
follows: S, , highly suitable ( > 1 5 , 0 0 0 nuts/ha/yr); S 2 , 
suitable to highly suitable ( 1 2 , 5 0 0 - 1 5 , 0 0 0 nuts/ha/ 
year); S 3 , suitable ( 1 0 , 0 0 0 - 1 2 , 5 0 0 nuts/ha/year); S 4 ; 
moderately suitable ( 5 , 0 0 0 nuts/ha/year), and S 5 ; 
marg ina l su i t ab le ( 2 , 5 0 0 - 5 , 0 0 0 nu t s /ha /yea r ) . 
Information on the rate and amount o f nutrient 
deple t ion in c o c o n u t lands o f d i f fe ren t y ie ld 
potentials will be a useful input in developing more 
logistic approaches to coconut nutrition and soil 
management. The objec t ive o f this study was to 
determine the rate o f micro nutrient removal from 
the;'field by Typicax Typica coconut palms, yielding 
an average o f 1 7 , 3 8 0 and 13 ,438 nuts/ha/yr belongs 
to ,two land suitability c lasses S , ; Madampe soil 
seijies (Red Yel low La toso l s ) and S 4 ; Boralu soil 
series (Red Yel low Podzol ic soils) (Somasi r i et al, 
1 9 9 4 ) , in order to assess and identify depletion o f 
the micronutrient reserves in the soil. 
I V J l A T E R I A L S A N D M E T H O D S 
T w o b l o c k s o f ten c o c o n u t p a l m s e a c h w e r e 
selected from S, land suitabili ty c lass ; Madampe 
series soil and S 4 land suitability class; Boralu series 
soil at Bandirr ippuwa Esta te , Lunuwila. Coconut 
palms located in Bora lu soil series were treated 
with r e c o m m e n d e d leve l s o f 8 0 0 g urea, 9 0 0 g 
i 
Eppawela rock phosphate, 1600g Muriate o f potash, 
and 1 OOOg Dolomi te once a year for the period o f 
ryvo years; coconut palms located in Madampe soil 
series were treated with 1.5 t imes o f recomended 
fertilizers. Sampl ing was carried out once a month 
fjor a two-year period in each b lock . Mature nuts, 
fallen frond and residues o f inf lorescence o f each 
plant component were col lec ted and the volumes 
o f nuts water were determined. 
C h e m i c a l a n a l y s e s w e r e p e r f o r m e d on 
representative sub samples o f each component o f 
the each palm parts viz. perianth, husk, kernel, nut 
water o f nut; ekel , l e a f blade, petiole' o f fronds; 
spike, spikele t , green spathe, dry spathe, male 
f lowers and button nuts o f the inf lorescence. The 
.samples o f the aforementioned components except 
(nut-water samples were analyzed for F e , Mn, Cu 
'and Zn which were est imated by digesting plant 
samples in 4:1 H N 0 3 / H C 1 0 4 mixture (Tropical soil 
and l e a f analyt ica l methods , 1 9 8 2 ) fol lowed by 
a n a l y s i s u s i n g A t o m i c A b s o r p t i o n 
S p e c t r o p h o t o m e t e r . Nut wa te r s a m p l e s w e r e 
evaporated to dryness, ashed at 450°C and dissolved 
in 1 0 % HC1 followed by analysis using Atomic 
Absorption Spectrophotometer. 
Two years after commencemen t o f the experiment, 
soil samples were col lec ted from the manure c i rc le 
o f each palm and the center o f the coconut squares 
o f each b lock at ( 0 - 2 5 ) c m and ( 2 5 - 5 0 ) cm depths 
for determination o f available Fe , Mn, Cu, and Zn 
nutrients in the soil. Air-dried, 2 m m sieved samples 
were used for analysis. Available micronutrients o f 
so i l w e r e e s t i m a t e d b y 0 . 0 0 5 M D T P A - T E A 
extraction (Lindsay and Norvell, 1978) and followed 
b y a n a l y s i s u s i n g A t o m i c A b s o r p t i o n 
Spectrophotometer . 
Calculation 
The annual depletion o f micronutrients from the soil 
in a hectare (a) was estimated by the equation a = 
b + c - d (Somas i r i et al, 2 0 0 3 ) . 
Where , b = quantity o f available or exchangeable 
micro nutrients in the soil per hectare 
up to 1m depth 
c = a m o u n t o f t he n u t r i e n t added 
c o n t a m i n a n t s wi th r e c o m m e n d e d 
fertilizer application per hectare per 
yea r 
d = annual nutrient removal by the coconut 
palms per hectare per year 
The time in the number o f years taken for complete 
consumption o f avai lable nutrient reserves in the 
soil (t) was estimated by the formula t = b / (d-c) 
(Somasi r i et al, 2 0 0 3 ) while considering the depth 
o f l m . 
Nutrient removal by nuts, fronds and residues o f 
inf lorescence o f coconut palms were calculated 
per hectare ( 1 5 8 palms/ha) in a year. Averages o f 
165 
SECOND SYMPOSIUM ON PLANTATION CROP RESEARCH 
two years removal data were used (Somas i r i et 
al., 2 0 0 3 ) . 
Nutrient content o f the soil was ca lcu la ted by 
summing up the quantities o f available nutrients in 
the manure circle and the rest o f the area together 
up to a 1 m o f depth. 
Quantity o f nutrients supplied as contaminants by 
application o f 3kg Adult Palm Mixture ( A P M ) and 
l k g dolomite per year, for ( S 4 ) and 1.5 times for 
(S ) were converted to the rate o f ha/year ( 1 5 8 
palms/ha) (Somasi r i et al., 2 0 0 3 ) . 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
Coconut plantations remove high proportion o f 
nutrients through the harvest as well as the other 
plant components . T h e s e components are taken 
from the flied for various requirements. Table 1 
shows that the nut weight contributes almost 6 0 % 
from Madampe series ( S , ) land suitability class and 
5 6 % from Boralu series (S ) land suitability class 
to the total dry matter production o f the coconut 
palm. The weight o f fronds contributes to 2 6 % and 
3 3 % respectively. I f the nuts and fronds are totally 
removed from the field, more than 8 5 % o f the dry 
matter produced by the pa lms o f two fields is 
removed from the field along with the nutrients. 
Table 2 reveals that the total removal o f micro 
nutrients except Zn from coconut palms grown in 
Boralu series S 4 land suitability class is higher than 
that o f the coconu t pa lms grown in M a d a m p e 
series, S land suitability c lass ; furthermore, total 
Fe and Mn removal from palms grown in Boralu 
series (S ) is 5 0 % and 40%> and is higher compared 
to the removal from palms grown in Madampe 
ser ies ( S ) r e spec t ive ly . B o t h nuts and fronds 
r e m o v e h i g h e r q u a n t i t i e s o f m i c r o n u t r i e n t s 
Table 1. The average (two years) dry matter of different components produced from two soil 
series belongs to two land suitability classes in a year 
Plant Madampe series Percentage Boralu series i Percentage 
component (S,) kg/ha of the total (S 4) kg/ha of the total 
Nut 17200 60 7491 56 
Fallen fronds 7514 26 4476 33 
Inflorescence 4185 14 1421 11 
Total 28899 100 13388 100 
Table 2. Micronutrients removed from the field by nuts, fallen fronds and infl< orescences of 
palms grown in the two soil series of two land suitability classes 
Removal of nutrients from two land suitability classes (kg/ha/yr) 
Parts of 
the palm Fe M n C u Zn 
s, s4 s, s4 s, s4 s, s4 
Nuts 0.47 0.82 0.10 0.74 0.11 0.03 0.16 0.16 
Fronds 0.61 0.70 0.50 0.11 0.01 0.10 0.15 0.09 
Inflorescence 0.06 0.19 0.03 0.03 0.01 0.02 0.13 0.02 
Total 1.14 1.71 0.63 0.88 0.13 0.15 0.44 0.27 
166 
REMOVAL OF MICRONUTRIENTS FROM COCONUT PLANTATIONS 
compared to inf lorescence from both soil series. 
With regard to the removal o f four heavy metall ic 
micrbnutrients, Cu was the lowest and F e was the 
highest recording Cu from S and S 4 land suitability 
classes 0 .13 and 0 . 1 4 kg/ha/year respectively and 
F e from S, and S 4 land suitability c lasses 1.14 and 
1.72;kg/ha/year respectively. 
Soi l reserves o f avai lable F e o f two soil series o f 
two land suitability c lasses are much greater than 
the quantity o f Fe annually removed by the palm 
(Table 3 ) . T h e reserves o f available Fe in the soil 
m a y be suf f ic ien t for more than 3 0 0 years o f 
Madampe series soil ( S ) and more than 5 0 0 years 
o f Bora lu series (S ) at the present depletion rate 
in the experiment sites. Table 3 and 4 revealed that 
Table 3. Quantities of micronutrients (i) lost from the site via removal of nuts and other plant 
1
 components, (ii) as soil reserves in "available from" and (iii) supplied as impurities of 
! fertilizer inputs 
Land suitability class F e M n C u 
a kg/ha/yr-
Zn 
i. i Nutrient removal by • 
; nuts, fronds and 1.14 0.63 0.13 , > 0 .44 
; residues o f 
I inf lorescence o f s 4 1.72 0 .89 0 .14 0.27 
| coconut pa lms 
i 
ii.j Nutrient content o f the 
s 3 2 4 . 5 0 11.73 7 .48 6.91 
j soil at exper iment site 
i (up to 1 m depth) 
s 4 
5 5 4 . 2 9 91 .33 3 6 . 4 6 - 59 .39 
I 
iii. Nutrient added as 
j s 2 .82 0 . 3 6 0 .02 0 .05 j impurities o f fertilizer 1 
{ contaminants 
1 s 4 
1.88 0 .24 0 .013 0.03 
Table 4. Estimated of metallic micronutrients in two soil series for coconut palms grown in two soil 
series of two land suitability classes. 
Micro nutrients availability in years 
J Soi l series F e Mn Cu Zn -
j Madampe series ( S , ) > 3 0 0 < 4 5 < 7 0 < 2 0 
| Bora lu series ( S 4 ) > 5 0 0 < 145 > 2 5 0 > 2 5 0 
Table 3 shows that the ava i l ab i l i ty o f all four 
micronutrients in Bora lu series soils ( S 4 ) is higher 
than that o f the M a d a m p e se r i e s ( S , ) and the 
estimated number o f years o f availabil i ty is shown 
iri Table 4 . 
the availability o f all fourmetall iemicronutrients in 
Boralu series ( S 4 ) sufficient for long period, but 
availabil i ty o f Mn , Cu, and Zn in Madampe series 
( S : ) is l o w c o m p a r e d to B o r a l u s e r i e s . 
Micronutr ients are present in Adult Pa lm Mixture 
167 
SECOND SYMPOSIUM ON PLANTATION CROP RESEARCH 
( A P M ) fer t i l izer as c o n t a m i n a n t s . Wi th A P M 
application, the input o f Fe is sufficient to make up 
for the removal and input o f Mn would compensate 
for one third o f the removal (Somasir i et al., 2 0 0 3 ) . 
input o f Cu and Zn is very low compared to the 
removal . Considerable amount o f micronutrient 
removed by coconut palm could also be returned 
to the land by using fronds, husks and inflorescence 
parts as mulch or manure. However, still there is a 
deficit between the removal o f Cu, Zn from the 
field and the input by the mulch and contaminants 
in the fe r t i l i ze r . T h e r e f o r e , a p p l i c a t i o n o f a 
maintenance doze o f Cu and Zn to high yielding 
palms will be useful to conserve the reserves in the 
soil. 
Apart from these the availabil i ty o f micronutrients 
in the soil depends on the soil pH (Sauchel l i , 1 9 6 9 ) . 
S o i l pH is , mos t o f the t ime , the main factor 
control l ing Cu avai labi l i ty for plants, when pH 
i n c r e a s e s the C u a v a i l a b i l i t y d e c r e a s e s 
(Nascimento et al., 2 0 0 3 ) . T h e electro negativity 
values o f Cu ( 1 . 9 0 ) , Zn (1 .5 ) and Mn ( 1 . 5 5 ) explain 
the higher selectivity o f the soil minerals for Cu 
and the high capaci ty for the adsorption o f this 
e l e m e n t to s o i l , as c o m p a r e d to the o t h e r s 
( N a s c i m e n t o et al., 2 0 0 3 ) Cu d e f i c i e n c y was 
observed in Sumatra in 1 9 8 8 after 8 -10 months o f 
planting coconut (Oh le r , 1984 ) . It was revealed that 
normally after laying the seed nuts, it utilizes the 
stored nutrients from different parts o f the nut up 
to 5 months (Perera et al, 1 9 9 6 ) . Subsequently it 
uses nutrients from stored nutrients as well as soil 
up to 8-12 months. Micronutr ient contents o f root 
and shoot after 3 months o f laying seed nuts was 
investigated by Si lva et al., ( 1 9 7 4 ) and it was also 
revealed that the micronutrient contents in kernel 
and nut water was reduced as well as in the shoots 
and roots. Therefore, it utilizes micronutrients which 
is absorbed by the palm and stored in the seed nut 
affecting the growth o f seedlings. 
CONCLUSIONS 
The reserves o f avai lable F e reserves in Madampe 
series and F e , Mn , Cu, and Zn reserves in Boralu 
series were very high compared to removals by 
the pa lm. T h e r e f o r e app l i ca t ion o f fer t i l izers 
containing micronutrients for Boralu series soil and 
fertilizer containing Fe for Madampe series would 
not be necessary . In the ca se o f Cu and Zn in 
Madampe series the gaps between the inputs as 
the mulch and fertilizer residues and the removal 
from field appears to be low compared to the soil 
reserves but there may be a long-term depletion. 
H o w e v e r , the l o s s o f M n f rom the f i e ld is 
compensated by the inputs o f fertilizer residues and 
the mulch. Therefore , application o f Cu and Zn 
fertilizer to maintain the soil reserves in the fields 
c o n t a i n i n g h i g h y i e l d i n g c o c o n u t p a l m s is 
recommended. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
Authors wishes to extend their s incere thanks the 
staff attached to the division o f So i l s and Plant 
Nutrit ion, Coconu t R e s e a r c h Institute for their 
u n t i r i n g s u p p o r t fo r t he c o l l e c t i o n o f da ta 
continuously for two year periods in each field. 
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Jeganathan, M. , Appuhamy, P.A. D. G. A., Mendis , 
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REMOVAL OF MICRONUTRIENTS FROM COCONUT PLANTATIONS 
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Removal of micronutrients from high and moderative yielding coconut plantations in Sri Lanka

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