Economic Aspects of Zinc Oxide Fertilization in Yam (Dioscorea alata L.) in a Semi-Arid Region of Brazil

Abstract

The management and improvement of yam productivity are associated with a good supply of essential nutrients for the growth and development of the crop that has economic viability. This research aimed to evaluate the economic feasibility of foliar fertilization with Zintrac® in two yam agricultural seasons (2022/2023 and 2023/2024). Therefore, two experiments were conducted at the Rafael Fernandes Experimental Farm, Mossoró, RN, Brazil. The experimental design was in a Latin square design with five treatments of doses of Zintrac® (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 L ha−1) and five replications. Among the production costs of yams, labor and seed acquisition were the most significant. The highest profitability index was achieved with the dose of 1L Zintrac® ha−1 in the first season and second season, which corresponded to 78.97 and 57.86%. For the first season, increments were observed in all treatments that received zinc doses with increases of 48.70, 31.22, 14.30, and 15.93% for 1, 2, 3, and 4 L of Zintrac® ha−1 compared to the dose of 0 L ha−1. On the other hand, in the second season, there was an increase only in the dose of 1 L ha−1 of Zintrac®, which corresponded to 51.3% in the net yield (ha−1) of the dose of 0 L ha−1. Therefore, foliar zinc oxide fertilization was economically viable for the yam crop, obtaining higher economic indices at the dose of 1 L ha−1. The highest cost for growing yams is using a dose of 4 L ha−1 of Zintrac®, totaling USD 6977.59 (first season) and USD 6868.33 (second season)