Abstract
The Heliconias have a great potential as a cut flower and for this reason an adequate management of the crop is important. The objective of this research was the application of soil amendments (Biol and superabsorbent polymers - SAP) and the analysis on their effect in the growth of Heliconia psittacorum cv. Tropica. An experiment was established using a completely randomized design with four treatments and five repetitions: SAP (1 g plant-1), biol (20 mL plant-1) + SAP (1 g plant-1), biol (20 mL plant-1) and one control (without application). A 20 cm rhizome was planted per pot and were evaluated the height of the plant, the number of leaves, the leaf area and the number of shoots were measured. The analysis of variance did not show statistical differences (p ≤ 0.05) between treatments for the variables of the height of the plant, the leaf area and the number of shoots, but statistical differences were found for the variable number of leaves (p ≤ 0.05), and the best treatments were Biol, SAP, and Biol + SAP. With the application of the biol and SAP amendments, it was not possible to increase the plant height, the leaf area and the number of Heliconia shoots. Regarding the application of SAP to the not found significant results in Heliconia, it is expected that treatments with SAP show a better effect in the dry season.
Highlights
Sustainable agriculture tries to find alternatives to conventional practices that are economically feasible with less incidence of environmental damage; a clear example is reflected in the use of organic amendments (HUE and SILVA, 2000)
This study considers the application of ‘biol’bioferments which results from anaerobic digestion of organic materials and contains minerals that can be used in crop fertilization (FERRER et al, 2009; KHALID et al, 2011), since it promotes performance and reduces the loss of nutrients (WALSH et al, 2012), having environmental benefits (LIJÓ et al, 2014)
Et al, 2008), retain and leave it available for the growth of plants (AKHTER et al, 2004) taking advantage of rainwater or spacing irrigation frequencies (GASGUE, 2006; KOUPAI et al, 2008). The use of these amendments can be used in various crops, since they mostly need nutrients and water resources. In this sense our research aims to use these agricultural amendments in the cultivation of Heliconia
Summary
Sustainable agriculture tries to find alternatives to conventional practices that are economically feasible with less incidence of environmental damage; a clear example is reflected in the use of organic amendments (HUE and SILVA, 2000). This study considers the application of ‘biol’bioferments which results from anaerobic digestion of organic materials and contains minerals that can be used in crop fertilization (FERRER et al, 2009; KHALID et al, 2011), since it promotes performance and reduces the loss of nutrients (WALSH et al, 2012), having environmental benefits (LIJÓ et al, 2014). With these characteristics, it can be used as a complement to chemical fertilization, allowing replacing the dependence of external inputs (BOJÓRQUEZ et al, 2010). Its water stress effect is little known (GASGUE, 2006; MUDHANGANYI et al, 2018), these polymers have the capacity to absorb from 400 to 1500 g of water per dry gram
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