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 P₂O?
and 146 ~ 270 kg ? ha-¹ for K₂O
according to altitude. Nutrient uptake by radish according to altitude was 153~159 kg ? ha-¹ for N, 38 ~ 46
kg ? ha-¹ for P₂O?
, and 151 ~ 185 kg ? ha-¹ for K₂O. 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
, and 209 ~ 290 kg ? ha-¹ for K2O according to altitude. Uptakes of N-P2O5-K2O by head
lettuce at an altitude of 800 ~ 850 m were 93-26-126 kg ? ha-¹, respectively. Uptakes of N-P₂O?
-K₂O 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.