Absorption of ammonium sulphate 15N by coffee plants

The objective of this study was to quantify the absorption of ammonium sulphate 15N by coffee plants. Treatments consisted of five sub-plots of 9 plants, of which the three central ones received 280 kg ha-1 of 15N, applied at four times: 1/4 on 01 Set 03; 1/4 on 03 Nov 03; 1/4 on 15 Dec 03 and 1/4 on 30 Jan 04. The isotopic enrichment was 2,072 ± 0,001 atom % 15N. The dry matter of the shoot was evaluated every 60 days, using one plant per replicate, collected outside the sub-plot. They were as similar as possible to the labeled plants, which were used only for isotopic and Total N analysis, after being dried at 65 deg C until constant weight. At harvest, plants had absorbed 42,88% of the fertilizer N. Leaves accumulated the largest amount of fertilizer N, and were also the compartments that received most N from other parts of the plant. The following partition of the fertilizer N was found at harvest: 23.01% in young leaves, 6.23% in old leaves, 4,46% in stem, 3.46% in fruits, 3.10% in young branches and 2.63% in old branches. (author)