Suckers of the pineapple plant (Ananas comosus L.), Smooth Cayenne cv., obtained by stem sectioning, were submitted to leaf fertilization with solutions at different concentrations of urea, KCl and H3BO3. The fractionated factorial design of the type (1/5)5³ was used, with three fertilizer types and five concentrations, totalizing 25 treatments that consisted of combination of concentrations (0; 2.5; 5.0; 7.5) and 10 g L-1 of urea and KCl, as well as 0; 0.5; 1.0; 1.5 and 2.0 g L-1 of H3BO3. The treatments began nine weeks after planting the stem sections. Twenty six sprays of urea and KCl were weekly applied as well as four monthly sprays of H3BO3. Positive linear growth was verified for the following characteristics: sprouting heights, leaf numbers, leaf area, dry and fresh matter of the suckers in response to increasing urea levels. No effect of KCl and H3BO3 were observed for the growth characteristics under evaluation. The suckers fertilized with 10 g L-1 urea reached 40 cm height and 242 g fresh matter at the 9th month after planting the sections.
Ananas comosus; leaf fertilization; propagation
