Abstract
ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to characterize the commercial quantitative standards of floral stems of gladiolus plants grown under minimum tillage and conventional systems in two harvest seasons in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. Experiments were conducted in locations with subtropical climate using soils classified as Typic Dystrudept (Cambissolo) and Typic Hapludox (Nitossolo). Gladiolus plants were grown in beds with intensive soil turning, and under minimum tillage system, in which soil turning was done only in the planting rows. Plants of the cultivars Red Beauty and White Goddess were evaluated in two harvest seasons, Mothers' Day, and Valentine's Day. A completely randomized experimental design with 12 replications was used; the treatments consisted of two harvest seasons and two soil management systems. The flower stem and inflorescence lengths, stem thickness, and number of florets were measured when the plants were at the harvest point to characterize their commercial quantitative standards. These data were used to distribute the stems into four classes (75, 90, 110 and non-marketable). The stem standard of gladiolus plants grown under minimum tillage system and the edaphoclimatic conditions of the state of Santa Catarina in the Mother's Day harvest met the flower market requirements, with most stems classified into the classes 90 and 110. Therefore, gladiolus plants can be grown under minimum tillage system without affecting the flower stem development. This work is the first step to promote the growth of flowers under a conservationist perspective, focused on a more sustainable agriculture.
Highlights
Sustainable agriculture is focused on the natural ecosystems as a model to promote diversity and stability of agricultural production systems
According to Severino (2007), these temperatures are below those ideal for gladiolus plants and states that the temperatures should be between 20°C and 25°C during the plant cycle for an adequate development of the plants
According to Schwab et al (2018), only extreme temperatures decreased the commercial quality of stems of plants grown in the South region of Brazil.The air temperatures were even lower in Season 2, the lowest temperatures from May to June were lower than 10°C for 30 days in Curitibanos, 22 days in Concórdia, and 18 days in Rio do Sul (Figure 1)
Summary
Sustainable agriculture is focused on the natural ecosystems as a model to promote diversity and stability of agricultural production systems. Incentives to produce gladiolus plants (Gladiolus x grandiflorus Hort.) in the South of Brazil emerged from the need for increasing agricultural diversity in family farms (SCHWAB et al, 2019; UHLMANN et al, 2019) This production requires information on soil management systems that are more sustainable than those currently practiced. The current practices adopted include intensive soil turning for preparation of beds, which intensify erosion, reduce soil organic matter by accelerating oxidation and decrease the soil capacity to supply water and nutrient to plants (NARESH et al, 2013; WANI et al, 2018) This soil preparation system increases soil losses by erosion, mainly in regions with steep slopes or irregular reliefs, as the case of most rural properties in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil
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