Nutritional status and fruit production of Carica papaya as a function of coated and conventional urea

ABSTRACT As a strategy to minimize N losses in the soil, mineral N sources, such as polymer-coated urea, have been studied as possibility to increase the synchronization of N release by the fertilizer and its absorption by plants. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the contents of macronutrients and the production of Formosa papaya as a function of sources and doses of N fertilizer applied as top-dressing in the region of Bom Jesus-PI, Brazil. The treatments were arranged in a 2 x 4 factorial scheme corresponding to N sources (coated urea and conventional urea) and N doses (350, 440, 530 and 620 g plant-1 of N), with four replicates and four plants per plot. The contents of macronutrients in the leaf dry matter and fruit production were evaluated. The sources and doses of top-dressing N fertilization incremented the leaf contents of macronutrients and the production of Formosa papaya hybrid Caliman 01. Under the experimental conditions and based on the macronutrient contents considered as adequate for crop nutrition, associated with maximum fruit production (8.08 kg plant-1), the supply of 525 g of N plant-1 is recommended in the form of coated urea