EXPERIMENTAL LEACHING OF MACRONUTRIENTS FROM BRASSICA NAPUS L. INCREASES WITH LEAF AGE AND GROWTH STAGE

It was the aim of the present study to determine the mobile nutrient content in leaves and pods of oilseed rape in relation to leaf age and growth stage and to develop an instrument to estimate the possible significance for interpretation of plant analytical data. From older leaves an increasing amount of sulfur (S), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), and phosphorus (P) was leached, while no N was extracted after 24 h of leaching. In younger leaves the potential for nutrient leaching was below 10% for all investigated nutrients while in older leaves this value increased to 58% for S, 28% for P, 21% for Mg, 18% for Ca and 16% for K. Generally the potential for nutrient leaching from leaves and pods increased with growth stage. Until BBCH 83 nutrient leaching from pods was very low with less than 5% for the investigated elements, except S, but increased with further ripening drastically.