Sufficiency levels for nutrient management in lemon balm, peppermint, and lemon verbena
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abstract
The sector of aromatic and medicinal plants has been increasing around the
world. In Portugal, the most important crops in terms of acreage are lemon balm
(Melissa officinalis L.), peppermint (Mentha x piperita L.), and lemon verbena
(Aloysia citrodora Paláu). Despite the economic importance of these crops, until
recently there were no standards for interpretation of results of plant analysis,
which means that this tool could not be used in the fertilization recommendation
programs. We are reporting a study leading to the establishment of sufficiency
ranges for these three species, which involved 37 response trials to the application
of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and boron, 142 vegetation cuts and more than
1,700 tissue analyses. There were carried out field trials and pots experiments in
several localities to increase the experimental variability and to confer greater
universality to the norms. In this work the procedures leading to the establishment
of the sufficiency ranges are described and a proposal of sufficiency ranges for 10
nutrients and for the three species is provided.
