Abstract
Noni has been introduced in Brazil just over a decade ago. Therefore, the information regarding crop fertilization and its influence on fruit quality is rare in the literature. Among macronutrients, potassium is highly concentrated in noni plants, and fertilization with cattle manure contributes to plant nutrition and fruit quality. This study sought to evaluate the effect of potassium fertilizer and cattle manure on the physical and physicochemical attributes of noni fruits. The treatments were distributed in randomized blocks, with four replications and two plants per plot, arranged in a factorial design 5 × 2 related to 0, 13.2, 37.5, 61.5 and 69.6 g plant-1 potassium chloride doses in soils without and with 12 kg plant-1 of cattle manure, with a C/N = 18:1 ratio. Cattle manure increased the average fruit weight from 99.6 to 113.4 g, expressing an increase of 13.9% for plants without and with organic compounds. Potassium chloride provided an increase of 61% in fruit weight and 31.25% in titratable acidity in fruits of plants without and with the highest dose of potassium chloride. Potassium chloride and cattle manure increased fruit mass, fruit length, fruit diameter, pulp mass, vitamin C and glucose contents in noni fruits. Key words: Fruit quality, Morinda citrifolia L., organic mineral fertilizer.
Highlights
Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.) is a tropical fruit tree widely distributed in the islands of the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Central America and parts of India (West et al, 2011)
The treatments were distributed in randomized blocks, with four replications and two plants per plot, arranged in a factorial design 5 × 2 related to 0, 13.2, 37.5, 61.5 and 69.6 g plant-1 potassium chloride doses in soils without and with 12 kg plant-1 of cattle manure, with a C/N = 18:1 ratio
Potassium chloride provided an increase of 61% in fruit weight and 31.25% in titratable acidity in fruits of plants without and with the highest dose of potassium chloride
Summary
Noni (Morinda citrifolia L.) is a tropical fruit tree widely distributed in the islands of the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, Central America and parts of India (West et al, 2011). The fruit of noni, classified as syncarp, has whitishyellow to white coloring and a characteristic strong odor It has a high concentration of vitamin C, antioxidants, proteins and carbohydrates (Canuto et al, 2010; Costa et al, 2013; Palioto et al, 2015). Potassium is highly concentrated in noni plants, being the second most abundant element in leaves and the first most abundant element in fruits (Cavalcante et al, 2014; Silva et al, 2014b) This is due to the importance of potassium in various physiological processes of the plant, such as the synthesis and translocation of carbohydrates, activation of enzymes and the formation of organic compounds, with an effect on fruit production and fruit quality (Gross, 1991; Jifon and Lester, 2009; Lester et al, 2010; Marschner, 2012). This study sought to evaluate the effect of mineral fertilization with potassium chloride and organic fertilization, with cattle manure on the physical and physicochemical attributes of noni fruits
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