• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.43 no.5
• /
• pp.616-623
• /
• 2010

Plant samples from 49 sites for Chinese cabbage, 28 sites for radish, 16 sites for cabbage, 8 sites for head lettuce, 20 sites for onion from farmers' and experimental fields in highland of Korea were collected and analyzed to find out the uptake patterns of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) by altitude. Dry weight and uptake of N, P and K were increased at higher altitude in most vegetable crops. Nutrition uptake by Chinese cabbage was 163 ~ 283 kg $ha^{-1}$ for N, 42 ~ 69 kg $ha^{-1}$ for $P_2O_5$ and 146 ~ 270 kg $ha^{-1}$ for $K_2O$ according to altitude. Nutrient uptake by radish according to altitude was 153~159 kg $ha^{-1}$ for N, 38 ~ 46 kg $ha^{-1}$ for $P_2O_5$, and 151 ~ 185 kg $ha^{-1}$ for $K_2O$. In case of cabbage, the plant uptakes of N, P, and K were increased at altitudes of 600 ~ 1,000 m. Nutrient uptake of cabbage was 280 ~ 348 kg $ha^{-1}$ for N, 34 ~ 87 kg $ha^{-1}$ for $P_2O_5$, and 209 ~ 290 kg $ha^{-1}$ for $K_2O$ according to altitude. Uptakes of N-$P_2O_5-K_2O$ by head lettuce at an altitude of 800 ~ 850 m were 93-26-126 kg $ha^{-1}$, respectively. Uptakes of N-$P_2O_5-K_2O$ by onions at an altitude of 600 ~ 800 m were 313-140-234 kg $ha^{-1}$, respectively, but there was no tendency in nutrition uptake patterns by altitude. Small cultivation areas used for leaf vegetable crops do not have fertilizer recommendation standards in alpine regions. It might be preferable to use a correction factor equivalent to the index of available nutrient uptake for the determination of N, P and K fertilizer application rates.