Yield of cotton as a second crop in narrow planting in response to nitrogen and potassium fertilization

ABSTRACT Nitrogen and potassium are the most required nutrients for cotton crop. Cotton grown as a second crop, after soybean harvesting, has been an option for crop system in the Brazilian savanna. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of N and K fertilization on the nutritional status and the yield components of cotton grown as a second crop, after soybean, and in a narrow planting system. The experiment was carried out adopting a completely randomized block experimental design. The treatments were set up in a 4 × 4 factorial arrangement with four replications. Factor A was the four N doses (0, 50, 100, and 200 kg ha-1) and factor B was four K2O doses (0, 40, 80, and 160 kg ha-1), applied as side-dressing. The N and Mg concentration levels in the leaf increased linearly with the N doses, while the concentration levels of S and Fe decreased (quadratic effect). The K2O doses resulted in positive and negative effects on K and Mg, respectively, in the leaf. The N fertilization promoted higher lint yield response when compared with K fertilization, as lint yield rate per kg of N was twice the yield rate per kg of K2O. The highest lint yields were reached with 148 kg ha-1 and 107 kg ha-1 of N and K2O, respectively.