When is the maximum nutrient efficiency period for vegetable crops?

During the growth of a crop there is a period when the absolute quantity of nutrients required is the greatest, the absorption rate is the fastest, and the nutrients absorbed can produce the greatest yield-increasing efficiency; this period is called the maximum efficiency period of crop nutrition.

The maximum efficiency period of crop nutrition is generally in the middle stage of crop growth. During this period, the crop grows fast and has the strongest ability to absorb nutrients. Timely topdressing is used to meet the crop's maximum demand for nutrients, and its yield-increasing efficiency is very significant.

In vegetable crop cultivation, vegetable crops should be divided into two categories according to their fertilizer requirement patterns; one category consists of vegetable crops whose absorption of mineral nutrients increases with growth, such as solanaceous, cucurbit and legume vegetables, which require the most fertilizer during fruit formation, and about 50 percent of the nutrients absorbed are used in the fruit; the other category mainly includes root vegetables and tuber vegetables, in which the period of vigorous aboveground growth is the period of greatest nutrient absorption.

During the growth of vegetable crops, attention should be paid to the critical period of nutrition and the maximum efficiency period, but attention must also be paid to the continuity of nutrient absorption. If this point is neglected, the growth, development and yield of vegetable crops will also be affected.