Abstract

Nutritional diagnosis is an important tool for increasing fruit yield and fruit quality through efficient fertilization management. The aim of the study is to investigate whether there are specific DRIS norms for pineapple ‘Perola’ for a better soil fertility management in Benin. A preliminary Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS) norms for ‘Perola’ pineapple growing in plantations Allada district (Benin) are presented. DRIS norms were established from a data bank of leaf nutrient concentration (N, P, K, Ca, Mg and Zn) and fruit yield with 60 samples gathered from farmers’ plantations. The data were divided into high-yielding (>66.7 t/ha) and low-yielding (<66.7 t/ha) sub-populations and norms were computed usingstandard DRIS procedures. These norms were developed with data from only one cropping region, so they should be considered as preliminary, probably requiring some modification as more data become available. The norms were significantly different from those presented in the literature, except for N/K whose value is similar to the existing norm. We conclude that our results revealed that DRIS norms depend on pineapple cultivar.

Key words: Perola pineapple, diagnosis and recommendation integrated system (DRIS) model, nutrient status.