Author(s)

Leandro Glaydson da Rocha Pinho¹, Pedro Henrique Monnerat², André Assis Pires¹, Marta Simone Mendonça Freitas², Claudio Roberto Marciano²

¹Instituto Federal do Espírito Santo, Campus Itapina, Colatina, Brazil.
²Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense, Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil.

The diagnosis of boron deficiency in coconut palms has been hampered by lack of information about its distribution in the plant. Two experiments were conducted, one in a greenhouse to induce boron deficiency in dwarf green coconut palms, and other in the field, in which the plants received doses of boric acid, B(OH)₃. The objective was to verify symptoms of boron deficiency and boron content variation in canopy, leaves and folioles (or leaflets). Boron deficient plants led leaves and folioles to become deformed. The deficient and sufficient contents of boron varied significantly in the canopy, but did not vary in leaves. The boron content increased significantly from bottom to the apex of the folioles in both treatments. To survey the level of boron in the coconut palm, the ideal is, using samples taken from the youngest leaf, to calculate the relation between the boron content in the apex of the foliole and the content in the center or in the folioles bottom, with minimum values 2.2 or 2.7, respectively.

Symptoms, Leaf Analysis, Deficiency Induction, Boric Acid, Samples, Cocos nucifera

da Rocha Pinho, L. , Monnerat, P. , Pires, A. , Freitas, M. and Marciano, C. (2015) Diagnosis of Boron Deficiency in Green Dwarf Coconut Palm. Agricultural Sciences, 6, 164-174. doi: 10.4236/as.2015.61015.