HORTSCIENCE 54(10):1836–1839. 2019. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTSCI14284-19 Thus, the deficiency symptoms of a partic- ular nutrient are typical and may appear in several plant organs, such as leaves, stems, Nutritional Disorders of roots, and fruit. These symptoms assist in the nutritional evaluation of plants (Gontijo et al., Macronutrients in Bletia catenulata 2007). However, mineral deficiency symptoms present particular inter- and intraspecies re- Carlos Henrique Oliveira de David sponses as a result of gene expression and envi- Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Chapadao~ do Sul, Brazil ronmental factors (Hawkesford et al., 2012). The knowledge of the symptomatology Vespasiano Borges de Paiva Neto caused by the deficiency of a specific nutrient Universidade Federal do Vale do Sao~ Francisco, Petrolina, Brazil is fundamental to the use of this method of plant nutritional evaluation. Thus, the culti- Cid Naudi Silva Campos, Priscilla Maria da Silva Liber Lopes, vation of plants in protected systems using and Paulo Eduardo Teodoro culture medium is an essential tool for plant Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Chapadao~ do Sul, Brazil nutrition studies, especially those that induce nutritional deficiency (Prado, 2008). Renato de Mello Prado Studies involving nutritional disorders in Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Chapadao~ do Sul, Brazil; orchids are still incipient in the literature, Department of Soils and Fertilizers, Universidade Estadual Paulista ‘‘Julio specifically for B. catenulata. Therefore, nutri- de Mesquita Filho’’ (UNESP), Jaboticabal, Brazil tional management of this species has not yet been consolidated, which can affect plant yield Additional index words. Orchidaceae, nutritional disorder, plant nutrition and quality. Therefore, work in this field must be developed. We evaluated the impact of Abstract . This study evaluated the impact of macronutrient omission on nutritional macronutrient omission on nutritional disor- Bletia catenulata disorders and the in vitro growth of . The experiment was performed in a ders and in vitro growth of B. catenulata. growth room, with a controlled environment, in the biotechnology laboratory of the Campus of Chapadao~ do Sul (CPCS/UFMS). The experiment consisted of a completely Material and Methods randomized design, with seven treatments and four replications, corresponding to the following treatments: complete treatment (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, B, Mn, Zn, Cu, Fe, and B. catenulata plants were collected in Mo), nitrogen omission (–N), phosphorus omission (–P), potassium omission (–K), Dec. 2013 in Cachoeira da Rapadura (lat. B. calcium omission (–Ca), magnesium omission (–Mg), and sulfur omission (–S) in 18°25#36.54$S, long. 52°56#57.23$W) in catenulata . After detecting the symptoms, plant height, leaf area, dry weight, micro- Costa Rica, Mato Grosso do Sul State, Brazil. nutrient content in the shoot, micronutrient accumulation in the shoot, and visual The experiment was carried out in a growth symptoms of nutritional deficiency were evaluated. The –N, –P, –Ca, and –Mg treatments room for 111 d, in a controlled environment, hindered plant growth and dry weight yield. The deficiency of each nutrient resulted in in the biotechnology laboratory of CPCS/ morphological changes, which were verified by typical visual symptoms of nutritional UFMS. Growth room conditions were main- disorder for each nutrient. tained constant at 27 ± 2 °C, with 16/8 h light/ dark, and an irradiance of 30 m–2·s–1, from OsramÒ fluorescent tubes, 40 W daylight. The genus Bletia Ruiz & Pav. is com- environments that undergo human distur- The experiment consisted of a completely posed of more than 35 species. Only two have bance. In addition, this orchid has terrestrial randomized design, with seven treatments and been registered in Brazil, and one of them is habits and superficial roots, and often occurs four replications, corresponding to the follow- Bletia catenulata. This species has a terres- near watercourses (Paiva Neto et al., 2015). ing treatments: complete (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, trial habit and sympodial growth, presenting However, in the literature we only found B, Mn, Zn, Cu, Fe, and Mo), –N, –P, –K, –Ca, commercial potential as a result of the rare one study involving aspects related to the –Mg, and –S. Each experimental unit was beauty of its leaves and flowers. cultivation of this species, carried out by Paiva composed of a glass bottle (height, 13.5 cm; Reports of this species occurring in dif- Neto et al. (2015). These authors demonstrated diameter, 8 cm) containing 70 mL nutrient ferent locations in the Brazilian territory, that the in vitro germination of seeds of all solution (Hoagland and Arnon, 1950) adjusted such as Tocantins and Maranh~ao (Silva fruit resulting from different pollinations was to pH 5.8 before the autoclaving process at et al., 1995), Minas Gerais (Araujo et al., low, with 8.6% being the greatest percentage 120 °C, 1 atm, and 20 min. The prepared 2002), Distrito Federal (Batista et al., 2005), value of protocorms obtained. Therefore, B. solution was semisolid with nutrients and agar. S~ao Paulo (Ferreira et al., 2010), and Mato catenulata is self-compatible, generating via- For the Fe supply, we used the complexed Grosso do Sul (Barros et al., 2018), as well as ble seeds, but is pollinator dependent for form with Fe-EDDHMA (YaraVita RexolinÒ), in other countries such as Bolivia (Vasquez sexual reproduction. In addition, this species and the water used was deionized. To each et al., 2003) and Paraguay (Schinini, 2010) has specific conditions for growing because bottle, B. catenulata seedlings were added have been documented. the plant is a geophyte and has reserve organs, and the bottle sealed with transparent film B. catenulata was found in four different where gems are found and where food is paper. The process for obtaining the seedlings sites in the northeastern region of the Mato stored, that allow these plants to survive in followed the methodology recommended by Grosso do Sul State, always with low fre- adverse weather conditions. Paiva Neto et al. (2015). quency. In some sites, it is exposed to Hence, it is clear there is a need for The seedlings were selected according information on the cultivation of B. catenulata, to uniformity and were transplanted into the including nutritional requirements and the culture medium (using a pair of tweezers in a most limiting nutrients for this plant. Each Filter FluxÒ horizontal laminar flow hood) Received for publication 13 June 2019. Accepted nutrient has a specific function in the plant’s with the respective treatments, and were cul- for publication 17 July 2019. metabolism, and all of them are essential to tivated until deficiency symptoms appeared. This study was funded in part by Federal Univer- sity of Mato Grosso do Sul and Higher Educa- the plant cycle. The lack or an unsatisfactory The plants transferred to the nutrient-deficient tion Personnel Improvement Coordination - Brazil amount of a particular nutrient promotes solution came from a culture medium with all (CAPES) - Finance Code 001. metabolic changes in the plant (Prado and nutrients available. P.E.T. is the corresponding author. E-mail: eduteodoro@ Vidal, 2008), causing visual symptoms in plant All plants were analyzed daily for visual hotmail.com. tissues, depending on the missing nutrient. symptoms of nutritional disorders related to 1836 HORTSCIENCE VOL. 54(10) OCTOBER 2019 Table 1. Macronutrient content shoot dry weight of Bletia catenulata plants as a function of the treatments. NPKCaMgS Treatments Shoot (g·kg–1) Complete 13.10 c 1.85 ab 19.95 ab 10.25 a 2.05 b 2.95 a –N 8.60 d 1.05 bc 12.30 ab 3.25 b 0.80 c 0.80 b –P 17.20 b 0.55 c 19.58 ab 11.28 a 2.30 b 2.08 ab –K 23.25 a 0.95 bc 5.25 c 10.80 a 2.05 b 3.15 a –Ca — 2.15 a 26.35 a 2.00 b 3.85 a 3.35 a –Mg 18.55 b 2.30 a 23.88 a 11.00 a 0.45 c 3.25 a –S 13.30 c 1.68 ab 18.98 ab 9.33 a 1.78 b 0.75 b F test 112.32** 9.22** 11.03** 25.92** 32.63** 7.21** MSD 3.32 1.02 10.06 3.60 0.90 1.99 CV (%) 10.6 28.9 23.9 18.6 20.4 36.5 **Significant at 1% probability by F test. Means followed by different letters in the columns differ by the Tukey test (P < 0.05). –, the plant material was not enough for chemical analysis. Table 2. Shoot dry weight macronutrient accumulation in Bletia catenulata plants as a function of the treatments. NPKCaMgS Treatments Shoot (mg/plant) Complete 1.14 a 0.16 a 1.73 a 0.89 a 0.18 ab 0.26 a –N 0.32 c 0.05 bc 0.77 cd 0.17 c 0.04 cd 0.06 bc –P 0.78 abc 0.03 c 0.89 bcd 0.52 b 0.11 bc 0.09 bc –K 1.46 a 0.06 bc 0.25 d 0.68 ab 0.13 ab 0.20 ab –Ca 0.38 bc 0.11 ab 1.33 abc 0.09 c 0.19 a 0.17 abc –Mg 0.88 abc 0.11 ab 1.14 abc 0.53 b 0.02 d 0.16 abc –S 1.08 ab 0.14 a 1.52 ab 0.75 ab 0.15 ab 0.04 c F test 7.39** 10.75** 11.03** 18.31** 16.19** 6.74* MSD 0.71 0.07 0.71 0.32 0.08 0.14 CV (%) 35.4 32.6 27.8 26.6 28.1 43.8 **, *Significant at 1% and 5% probability, respectively, by F test.