GROWTH AND PRODUCTION OF GREEN DWARF COCONUT TREE FERTIRRIGATED WITH NITROGEN AND POTASSIUM.

A field experiment was developed in the period of April of 2000 to May of 2002, at the Experimental Station of Jiqui pertaining to the Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuaria do Rio Grande do Norte - EMPARN, Parnamirim city, state of Rio Grande do Norte. The work had as objective to evaluate the effects of nitrogen and potassium applied through irrigation water on the vegetative behavior and productive of green dwarf coconut tree (Cocos nucifera L). The treatments had consisted of the combination through the experimental matrix of Pan Puebla III, 5 doses of N and 5 doses of K2O both oscillating of 135 the 2565g plant(-1) year(-1) derived of the urea and potassium chloride. The used experimental design was of blocks at random with 4 repetitions and 5 plants for plots totalizing 40 experimental units. The plantation was made in the triangular spacing of 7.5 m between plants and 7.5 m between lines. During the 5(th) year of culture, from April of 2001 to May of 2002 was quantified the number of fruits in the 13 harvest carried out. The referring variables to the vegetative development, height and circumference of stem, diameter of the top and leaf number, had been measured in May of 2002, in the end of the experiment. The stem circumference increased linearly with the increase of the doses of N and of quadratic form with the doses of K with the biggest value for the dose of 1350 g plants(-1) year(-1). The leaf number answered only the nitrogen applications. The growth in stem height had influence of N and K, however, data did not adjust to no mathematical model. The diameter of the top of the green dwarfed coconut palm did not suffer significant interference of no applied fertilizer through irrigation water. The number of fruits increased quadratically with the N and K doses. The maximum physical efficiency of the production, 154.75 fruits plants(-1) year(-1), it was reached with the doses of 1437 g plants(-1) year(-1) of N and 1553 g plants(-1) year(-1) of K.