Guedes de Souza

The growth of plants lacking an element considered essential for their development causes biochemical phenomena within the plants that are manifested by characteristic symptoms. These symptoms can be quickly identified through visual diagnosis. This diagnosis identifies a plant with a deficiency or excess of a nutrient. However, visible changes do not always allow for the correction of deficiencies in the same agricultural year, meaning that economic damage has already occurred. For this reason, leaf diagnosis is used. This technique analyzes the nutrient content of specific leaves at defined periods in the plant’s life and compares them with nutritional standards found in the literature. In this context, this book presents visual symptoms of macronutrient deficiencies and determines the biometric characteristics of cotton crops as a function of nutrient omission.