Abstract

BEJINES RAMOS, Galdino; GONZALEZ EGUIARTE, Diego R.; RODRIGUEZ MENDOZA, María de la Nieves  and  RODRIGUEZ MACIAS, Ramón. Penetration pathways for a foliar fertilizer in Agave tequilana Weber var. Azul. Rev. Mex. Cienc. Agríc [online]. 2017, vol.8, n.4, pp.985-991. ISSN 2007-0934.

This research aimed to contribute to the knowledge of the penetration pathway of the foliar fertilizer 4-17-17 (NPK) in blue agave. In 1.5-year-old blue agave plants, histological sections were made to identify the main morphological characteristics of the leaf. Leaves were sprayed with the fertilizer-dye fast green solution plus naphthol blue black (F-VR-ANN) and separately with the fertilizer-dye calcofluor solution (FC). Histological sections were made at 30, 60 and 120 min after application. The activities were conducted at the Laboratory of Plant Histopathology of the Postgraduate College in Agricultural Sciences, Campus Montecillo, during the months of August and September 2013. Small vascular bundles scattered in the palisade parenchyma and spongy parenchyma were observed. The thickness of the cuticle varied according to the sampling site within the leaf, on average, 17.1 μm in the apical part and 19.1 μm in the middle part of the leaf. In the palisaded parenchyma crystals were observed, probably of calcium oxalate in the form of prisms. Evidence on the accumulation of the F-VR-ANN solution suggests that the penetration route was stomatal and cuticular, since accumulation was observed after 30 min after application to the cuticle and 120 min after in the parenchyma in palisade. Also, the application of the F-C solution suggests a cuticular and stomatal penetration, as there was fluorescence within the epidermal cells 30 min after the application and 120 min after it was observed between and within the palisade parenchyma cells. In this way, the results show that foliar fertilization may be a viable option to supplement soil fertilization.

Keywords : Agave tequilana Weber var.Azul; cuticle; fluorescence.

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