Abstract
ABSTRACT Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is a plant with a long crop cycle, what hinders its cultivation in properties with area limitations. The association of crops is an option for this kind of situation. However, in order to plan the cultivation using the intercropping system, it is important to define the tolerance levels of the taro plants and the period of highest sensibility to shading. This study aimed to evaluate the behavior of the 'Japanese' taro crop, regarding growth, cultivated under levels and periods of artificial shading. A split-plot randomized block design, with 13 treatments and four replications, was used. The plots consisted of four shading levels (control = full sun, 18 %, 30 % and 50 % of shade), maintained throughout the cycle or during three months, in three periods (initial = 0-3 months; intermediate = 3-6 months; final = 6-9 months). The subplot was composed of eight plant samples (60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240 and 270 days after planting). The shading levels increased the total and specific leaf area, leaf area and mass ratios and dry mass partition. Thus, the taro plants showed the capacity to make leaf adjustments to suit changes in light intensity. The shading intensity of 18 %, during the whole cycle or in any of the periods studied, provides a high expansion of the leaf area.
Highlights
Plant growth reflects the adaptation to radiation conditions in the environment
The reduction in temperature was proportional to the shading intensity, i.e., the shading percentage (Table 1)
The leaf area was similar among the shading levels, with the highest values at 90-210 days after planting (DAP)
Summary
Plant growth reflects the adaptation to radiation conditions in the environment. Growth characteristics are generally used to infer about the tolerance of species to light availability (Teixeira et al 2015). Luminosity is one of the most important determinants of the photosynthetic plant productivity (Cavatte et al 2009), and a low light intensity results in alterations of morphology, foliar anatomy, chloroplast ultrastructure, total exportation of assimilates and distribution patterns of assimilates (Bezerra et al 2009), besides promoting the quality of seedlings and guaranteeing a better survival rate in the field. The vegetative growth of taro (Colocasia esculenta) is initially very slow, reaching a peak between four and six months of the cycle, with a. 2. Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Unidade Acadêmica de Ciências Agrárias, Pombal, PB, Brasil
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