Potassium Fertilization of Sweet Corn in a Potassium-rich Soil

Abstract

Hybrids with high yield potential and nutritional requirement, higher cost of fertilizers and environmental impact caused by the excessive use of nutrients, are factors that require improvements in the management of fertilization of sweet corn. An experi-ment was carried out from 24/4 to 25/8 2014, in São Paulo, Brazil, aiming to evaluate potassium (K) rates (0, 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 kg ha^-1 de K₂O), in the yield of supersweet corn ‘GSS 41243’, main cultivar used by agribusiness in São Paulo, Brazil. The culture was established in a K rich Rhodic Hapludox soil (4,2 mmol_c dm^-3 exchangeable K ). Potassium rates did not influence total, commercial and grain productivities, grain yield, length and diameter of the ear, or leaf potassium content. Therefore, K fertilization in supersweet corn ‘GSS 41243’ in a K rich Rhodic Hapludox soil can be dispensed.