Effects of nitrogen accumulation and partitioning of dry matter and nitrogen of vegetables. 1. Brussels sprouts

Abstract

Three greenhouse trials and one field trial were carried out on Brussels sprout cv. Icarus SG2004 in which the treatments consisted of different N amounts and application dates. DM and N accumulation in stems, apical buds and groups of leaf blades, petioles and sprouts were measured frequently throughout crop growth. Total amounts of accumulated DM and N were affected by amount of N applied and date of application, but the final harvest indexes for DM and N (0.10-0.35 and 0.20-0.55, respectively) were not significantly affected by treatments in most experiments. Nitrate N concentrations were only high (up to about 2%) shortly after planting. The total N concentration of leaf blades and petioles increased with increasing leaf number. This increase resulted from a decreasing N concentration during the leaf's life. The total N concentration in sprouts changed little with leaf number.