Banca de DEFESA: WAGNER DOS SANTOS MACHADO

A Case Study of Associated Cultivation of Sour Passion Fruit with 'Crioulo' Corn in Rondônia, Brazil

Passiflora edulis, Productivity, 'Crioulo' corn

The consortium between yellow passion fruit and native corn must contain in its essence the concepts of sustainable agriculture, which ensures productivity and profitability, using inter-cropping techniques. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the agronomic, cli-matic and economic performance of the intercropping of yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims) with Aztec Creole corn (Zea mays L.) in an organic production system, being partly conducted at home of vegetation, until the establishment of the seedlings or seedlings, and then taken to the field. The Passiflora genotype used was from the BC3 Family. A (HRI-25 / HRI-17 Hybrid Pool, both 50%). Even with the frequent attack by the arapuá bees, a consid-erable production of 612.18 kg of fruit was obtained in just one harvest. Corn productivity was 156 kg, destined for family consumption and right after harvesting, the focus was on ob-taining straw as soil cover. The total production cost of the experiment was R$3,105.23, with a profit margin of 44.7%, totaling a gross value of R$5,613.69 and a net income of R$2,508.46. For cultivation in the southern region of Rondônia, the planting months that should be avoided, taking into account the rainfall index, are concentrated in the period from November to March, where a precipitation of 1600 mm was accumulated, an approximate av-erage of the annual need of the culture. Considering that the cultivation of passion fruit in an organic system demands a lot of labor and intense application of biological products and al-ternative mixtures, the cultivation of this crop becomes somewhat challenging, due to the damage caused by pests and important diseases of the crop.