Scientia Horticulturae, 26 (1985) 311--322 311 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam -- Printed in The Netherlands TEMPERATURE INFLUENCES NUTRIENT ABSORPTION AND UPTAKE RATES OF BANANAS GROWN IN CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENTS D.W. TURNER I'3 and E. LAHAV ~ 1Tropical Fruit Research Station, Department of Agriculture, Alstonville, N.S.W. 24 77 (A ustrali,~) 2Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Centre, Bet Dagan (Israel) 3Present address: School of Agriculture, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, W.A. 6009 (Australia) (Accepted for publication 25 March 1985) ABSTRACT Turner, D.W. and Lahav, E., 1985. Temperature influences nutrient absorption and uptake rates of bananas grown in controlled environments. Scientia Hortic., 26: 311--,322. We explored the influence of temperature on the concentration of nutrients in banana plants, the nutrient uptake rate, apparent root transfer coefficient (5) and the relation- ship between accumulation of dry matter and nutrient. Young banana plants (Musa (AAA group, Cavendish sub-group) 'Williams') were grown at six temperature regimes (17]10--37/30°C) in sunlit growth chambers for 12 weeks. The amount of nutrient absorbed was influenced by the amount of growth made, but the link between the two differed from one element to another. Temperatures less than 29/22°C reduced the concentration of all elements in the whole plant, except Fe. Temperature influenced the root uptake rate of B 10-fold; K, Na, Ca, Fe and Zn 3--4-fold ; and N, P, Mg, Mn, Cu, C1 1--2-fold. Among the elements the highest recorded rate was 12 mg g-1 day-1 for K at 33/26°C. The optimum temperature for nutrient uptake rates differed among the elements. This was accounted for largely by greater growth at those temperatures of organs with high concentration of particular elements. The ~,. (an estimate of efficiency of uptake) of B varied 12-fold among treatments; K, Ca, Mg, Na, Mn, Zn and CI varied 3--5- fold and N, P, Cu and Fe varied 2--3-fold. The ratio of relative nutrient accumulation rate, Rm, to the relative growth rate, Rw, was most stable across temperatures for N and least stable for B and Na. However, the trend was for Rm]R w to increase as temperature rose, indicating an absorption of nutrient.,~ greater than might be expected from a change in growth rate as temperature increased, and a decreased efficiency in their utilization for plant growth. Keywords: banana; Musa sp.; nutrient absorption; temperature. Abbreviations C m = concentration of nutrient in the plant CO = concentration of nutrient at the root surface M = weight of nutrient in the plant 0304-4238/85/$03.30 © 1985 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.