TY - JOUR AU - Acevedo, Melissa AU - Román-Paoli, Elvin AU - Román-Pérez, Félix M. AU - Valencia, Elide AU - Tirado-Corbalá, Rebecca PY - 2017/10/01 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Pineapple growth and yield response to fertilizer and drip irrigation management JF - The Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico JA - JAUPR VL - 101 IS - 2 SE - Articles DO - 10.46429/jaupr.v101i2.15790 UR - https://revistas.upr.edu/index.php/jaupr/article/view/15790 SP - 203-223 AB - <p>Pineapple [<em>Ananas comosus</em> (L.) Mere] is an important fruit crop&nbsp;cultivated in many tropical countries. This fruit crop requires large amounts&nbsp;of nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) to maximize yield. Although pineapple&nbsp;has low water requirements, extended drought can affect yield. Two&nbsp;experiments were conducted to study the effects of fertilizer application&nbsp;methods and drip irrigation management on pineapple yields. Pineapple&nbsp;cultivars MD-2 and Cabezona were planted at Isabela and Lajas, Puerto&nbsp;Rico, respectively. Fertilizer and irrigation treatments included: i) Controlapplication&nbsp;of 896 kg/ha of a granular fertilizer (12-6-10-3) at two, five and&nbsp;nine months after planting; ii) FS-R- application of 150-150-120-45 kg/ha at&nbsp;planting plus 20 foliar applications of urea and potassium sulfate (50 kg/ha) every three weeks, rainfed; iii) FS-DI- application of 150-150-120-45 kg/ha at planting plus 20 foliar applications of urea and potassium sulfate&nbsp;(50 kg/ha), drip irrigation applied every three weeks; iv) FERT- application&nbsp;of 150-150-120-45 kg/ha at planting, but urea and potassium sulfate (50&nbsp;kg/ha) were applied throughout fertigation; and v) CRF- same amount of&nbsp;nutrients as FS-R but N was applied as a controlled release fertilizer every&nbsp;six months. At Isabela, treatment FS-R produced the highest fruit weight&nbsp;(2.5 kg per fruit) and 1.5% of N in tissue, but did not differ significantly&nbsp;from FS-DI and CRF. Plants under CRF registered the highest Brix (15.8°).&nbsp;Although foliar fertilizer tended to produce higher yields, controlled release&nbsp;fertilizer is recommended because it eliminates the need for frequent foliar&nbsp;application without compromising yield.</p> ER -