Meteorological variables, water balance, biomass and nutrients accumulation by cassava intercropped with Crotalaria juncea

Abstract

Increasing cassava yield in response to growing consumer market demand requires good management practices to avoid degradation caused by soil nutrient depletion. The objective of this work was to evaluate components of macronutrient production and extraction of cassava in consortium with the legume Crotalaria juncea. A statistical design was used in randomized blocks, with four replications, in plots subdivided in time. In the plots were the treatments presence and absence of cassava consortium with C. juncea, the subplots were formed by 11 evaluation periods every 30 days for the production components and 6 evaluation periods every 60 days for the extraction of nutrients. The following were evaluated: production components (partitioned yields and total wet and dry mass - t ha-1) and extraction of macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulfur - kg ha-1). The water balance of the crop was determined on a monthly scale. The annual evapotranspiration of cassava was 1,273 mm in the 12-month cycle. The agricultural productivity of roots, stakes, stem, leaves, shoot and total biomass of cassava was 18.4, 1.8, 7.2, 2.7, 9.9 and 30.1 t ha-1, respectively. The dry mass yield of roots, stakes, stem, leaves, shoot and total was 5.1, 0.8, 2.1, 0.9, 3.0 and 8.9 t ha-1, respectively. There was a higher extraction of nitrogen by cassava, 119 kg ha-1, followed by calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and sulfur. The cassava consortium with C. juncea did not interfere in the variables studied.